Heart of a Ninja
by CursedNocturne
Summary: Green Ninja arc: An ancient evil has been awoken, and Vanitas, the Dark Lord's son, is at the center of it all. It won't be easy to face, what with an oddly colored falcon holding the key to Riku's past, a mysterious knight getting in their way, Sora and Roxas' family issues, and a prophecy saying that one of them is destined to defeat the Dark Lord.
1. Prologue: An Honest Man

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Prologue: An Honest Man**

~o~o~

The world had been created with both light and darkness. Both good and evil. Both chaos and peace.

As for now, however, the world was in a time of peace after a long period of war.

_And if people think the world will stay that way forever, they're all fools… _Terra thought to himself as he finished dressing.

He ran a hand through his hair, glancing at himself in a mirror that hung on the wall. A few strands had been turning gray as of late, but he knew it wasn't from old age. His eyes were red and bloodshot, though not from exhaustion. He glanced at his wrist, where two small, pale spots stood out against the tan skin- fang marks. He'd received them long ago, but he'd managed to resist the worst of the effects for so long. Now and again, however, he would feel the dull ache of the venom.

Now was one of those times. But it was different now. This time he couldn't fight back, and he knew it.

In the mirror's reflection, he could see his pregnant wife lying asleep in bed. _I'm sorry, Aqua. There is something I have to do. If I don't return, take care of our child._ With that last thought, he left the room quietly.

Aqua was later awoken in the early hours of dawn by the sounds of weapons clashing, thunder rolling more loudly than she'd ever heard it before, and her husband's screaming.

_Terra… What's happened to you…?_

~o~

Lea wiped the sweat from his brow as he finished hammering out his newest created weapon on the anvil. "Watch out, son," he said as he carried it over to the basin of water and dipped it in. Steam filled the room as the cold water made contact with the red-hot metal.

"Daaaad!" Axel's voice protested. "The room is all cloudy now!"

The older of the two chuckled as he pulled the sword from the basin, admiring his work. "Sorry, sport, but it's all a part of being a blacksmith. Besides, it's not the first time you've seen me work."

The little 7 year old frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's still annoying!"

"But, Axel, I thought you wanted to be a blacksmith just like me. Isn't that what you've always said?"

"W-Well yeah!" The younger nodded rapidly. "But that doesn't change that I don't like the steam!"

"Well, maybe you can teach your sister, and she can do that part for you instead, hm?" He smiled. "After all, Kairi's almost old enough to learn how to work the forge too."

"Nu-uh!" His son rapidly shook his head. "Girls can't be blacksmiths!"

"And why not?"

"Because…" The little boy furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think of a reason. "Because… They're girls!"

Lea laughed a bit. "Son, I'll have you know I've known many girls who grew up into women who could do their jobs better than any man could."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Warriors."

Axel scoffed. "Girls can't fight!"

"Oh really?" Lea wiggled his fingers in a mysterious way. "I knew one woman who could copy the powers of other people just by touching them!"

"Nu-uh! You're joking!"

"Your father is an honest man. He speaks the truth, young one," said a new voice from the doorway. Lea and his son looked up to see a tired man with shaggy blond hair. Lea knew that when the man had been younger, his hair had been rather spiky, but as he grew older it began to lay flat more and more.

"Axel, why don't you go check on your sister?" Lea suggested. "Daddy needs to talk to an old friend alone right now." Axel looked at his dad in confusion, but left just as he was told. Lea turned back to the blond man, smiling. "I haven't seen you for a very long time, Ventus."

"It hasn't been quite that long, you know," the man said with a chuckle. "You were at my brother's wedding."

"That was over a year ago," He said with a laugh. "How is Terra, anyway?" At that, Ventus fell silent, causing Lea's teasing mood to vanish. "You mean… Is he…?"

Ventus nodded. "It's taken all these years… but I'm afraid the venom in my brother's veins has finally run its course."

"I see…" Lea looked off into the distance, as though remembering something. "He must have only stuck around to end the war, huh?"

"He wanted to protect what was most important," said Ventus. "That alone kept him strong through the war. But now that they're safe, there's nothing left to give him that drive to hang on any longer. That, and the fact that he kept trying to fight it in the first place must have been like a dam holding back too much water."

"That makes sense… kinda," said Lea, frowning. "So, did you come all this way to bring me this news?"

Ventus shook his head. "I came here to bring you this." He held a scroll out to the redhead.

Frowning, Lea took the scroll and opened it, examining it, before his eyes widened. "No way…! Ventus, this is-"

"I know what it is," the blond said, smiling wryly. "I drew it up myself."

Lea rolled the scroll back up. "So it really came to this… Why did you bring it to me?"

"Because I want you to keep it somewhere safe."

"Me?!" Lea stared at his friend incredulously. "Why me?!"

Ventus smiled a real smile this time. "Because you're an honest man. I trust you."

Lea sighed, slipping the scroll into a pocket on his clothes beneath the blacksmith's apron he was wearing. "Well, I trust you too. I just…" He hesitated. "…Can I ask you something?"

Ventus nodded. "Yes, what is it?"

"If anything ever happens to me, will you look after my kids?" Lea rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not nearly as young as I used to be, and since the war, you're the closest friend I've got. I don't plan on anything happening, but… just to be on the safe side."

Ventus looked at his friend in surprise, but nodded. "I promise, Lea."

~o~o~

**Author's Note: It's been over a year since I did any real work on Fanfiction, let alone something for the Kingdom Hearts franchise. In truth, this is going to be heavily based on the TV series Ninjago, though I don't plan for it to be a word for word rewrite of the show with KH characters. I've got some plans of my own, though if I get invested enough in the writing and the characters develop minds of their own, my plans could be completely derailed. In which case, a slight deviation from the original show could become a completely different story.**

**To be honest, I'm really unsatisfied with the first part of this chapter… or prologue. However, I couldn't think of any other way to write that part. Maybe in the future I'll look back and figure out a way to write it better, but for now, I'm going to leave it like this.**

**This will probably be split into four to five separate arcs, or more if more seasons of Ninjago are released during the writing of this fic. This first arc is the Four Weapons arc, based on the pilot episodes which can be found on Netflix (plus a little of one of the specials), and will most likely be much shorter than the rest of the arcs.**

**Some people might wonder why I'm using Ninjago as the source material for a Kingdom Hearts fic. After all, isn't Ninjago some little kids' show that combines Legos and ninjas? Well… yes and no. Ninjago probably started off that way, but each season has been getting progressively darker, to the point where it actually has made me cry, and I don't cry very easily. True, it's obviously not as good as Avatar was, but it is still much better than most children's TV shows these days.**


	2. 1: Something Special

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of shadowy skeletons.

**Chapter 1: Something Special**

~o~o~

"Watch out, sis! Comin' through!"

Kairi just managed to duck as her brother swung the still-red-hot steel of his newest creation over her head and thrust it into the basin. "Be careful where you swing that, Axel! That sword could have burned my head off!"

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault you were standing in my way," the red-haired boy said between coughs as steam filled the room. "Just stick to minding the shop, will ya? Working the forge is my talent, not yours."

At this, Kairi snorted. "The last sword you made turned out all crooked and spiral-shaped. It really does take talent to fail that spectacularly."

"That was last night! Today will be different!" Axel pulled the sword out of the basin with a triumphant look on his face, which disappeared as soon as he saw the sword… if it could even be called that. He swore he had pounded the metal flat, but now the blade appeared round, with a flattened mass sticking out of one side. Ignoring Kairi's giggling, he tried to look for a bright side. "I-I meant to make it like this! See, it kinda looks like a key, doesn't it? I call it the… um… the Keyblade!"

Kairi's giggles turned into full on laughter, and she gripped the wall to keep from falling. "Axel, that's… I don't even have the words to describe that!"

"What? It's a great weapon!" He swung it over his head as though to demonstrate. "One day, a brave warrior will go into battle carrying this weapon, and-"

"And he'll come back and clobber you over the head with it," said Kairi, taking the 'Keyblade' from him. "I know you want to be as good of a blacksmith as dad, but you made this too quickly. I'll fix this up later, but in the meantime, you take care of the storefront."

"Yeah, sure," Axel waved a hand dismissively, walking towards the door that separated the store from the forge. "Just don't burn yourself back here." If Kairi replied, he didn't hear it. He'd already closed the door behind himself.

He sighed as he made his way over to the cash register. Things had been pretty rough since their dad had died. Despite all the lessons his father had given him over the years, it seemed like all the blacksmith talents had gone to Kairi. His father has always told him that, no matter how hot his flame burns, it's no substitute for real experience. The trouble was that he and Kairi had been doing this for the past three years, and rather than improving, he only seemed to get worse as she got better. _What good is experience if I can't even make a simple sword after three years?_

"Excuse me."

The voice snapped Axel out of his reverie. A man stood in the shop entrance, looking at Axel with piercing blue eyes. He wore a white cloak with the hood up, but despite that, he could see part of the man's face and his blond bangs. Really, if the man was trying to hide what he looked like, black would be a better color choice than white, in Axel's opinion. Still, judging his customers' choice in clothes wasn't part of his job. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," the man said, turning to look over the shop. "You see, I came here looking for… something special."

"Something special, huh?" Axel turned to a rack of swords hanging on a nearby wall and took one of the better ones down off it. "Well, how about this?"

The man looked the sword over, frowning, before taking it from Axel and giving it a few experimental swings, then shook his head and handed it back. "The metal you use it much too loud and heavy. It would be useless in the art of stealth."

Axel frowned, putting the sword back. "Sorry, man, but we don't exactly make 'stealth' weapons here. If my old man was still around, maybe he'd have something for you."

"I'll say," the man said, sounding somewhat frustrated. "I wonder… Did it ever occur to you that maybe you weren't cut out to be a blacksmith?" Axel bristled at the comment, but said nothing as the man went on. "Your father had so much talent in being a blacksmith, but it seems to me that you didn't inherit any of it. Your talents must lie somewhere else."

Axel had heard enough. He slammed a hand down on the counter and glared at the man. "Look. This place is called 'Four Weapons,' not 'For Commentary on Poor Craftsmanship.' If you don't like my work, I get it, so go peddle your insults somewhere else!"

The man blinked a few times, then shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said as he left. "I just thought I'd truly find something special here, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Yeah, well, don't let the door hit you on your way out," Axel grumbled, not looking at the man as he left. Sighing, he gave the sword in his hands a few experimental swings himself, before shaking his head and putting it back on the rack. _How am I supposed to know if the sword's too heavy or not? It's not like I actually know how to use them…_

He looked up as he heard the door to the forge open, and Kairi poked her head into the store. "Is something wrong? I heard you shouting in here."

He sighed. "It's nothing. Some guy was just in here asking for something special."

"You mean a custom weapon order or something?"

Axel shook his head. "I don't know. All he said was that he wanted something to use for stealth, then started insulting my work."

"Did you ask if he wanted something custom made?" asked Kairi. When Axel didn't answer, she sighed. "You know, I could have easily made a custom weapon for him. You remember the chakrams that Dad helped me make for you all those years ago, right?"

"Right…" Axel smiled faintly, remembering how proud Kairi had been when she had given them to him. Their dad had still been around back then, and had even taught Axel how to use them (although for practice, they used Frisbees instead). "Come to think of it, aren't chakrams pretty stealthy?"

Kairi smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they are. They might be larger than the traditional shuriken, but they still work just as well."

"Too bad we don't actually sell chakrams," said Axel. "Maybe then the man would have found that 'something special' he wanted." He crossed his arms then. "Still, he didn't have to go and insult my work. I know I'm not as good as dad, but he didn't have to say I have no talent…"

"Well, considering how that 'Keyblade' turned out…"

Axel swatted at her jokingly. "Not you, too!"

~o~

"_You bring news?"_

_A blackened, four-armed skeleton bowed its head in a nod. "We have discovered the location of the map, sir."_

"_Good…" Golden eyes gleamed in the shadows. "Tonight, I want you to take your soldiers and retrieve it… as well as something to use as leverage."_

"_As you wish… 'Master.'"_

~o~o~

**Author's Note: **Ah, the first minute and a half of the pilot episode, stretched out into something that takes up over a thousand words. I originally planned on this being longer, but I wanted to get a chapter up this week, and I have to figure out how to write a fight scene. Those have always been my weak point. I also have to figure out how I'm going to incorporate "spinjitsu" in a way that works for the story.

If Axel seems out of character in any way, I'm sorry. Between all the characters in the story, it's him that will have some of the most character development. However, I won't apologize for another character I will intentionally make out of character, for reasons that will be explained in the second arc. If you've seen the show, you'll know what I mean, and why he is that way.

On another note, I've been figuring out how to incorporate Disney characters into the story. I had already been planning on at least one group, but now I'm getting ideas for Captain Hook, Alice, and more. I may even include the Chernabog at some point.

Question: What weapons besides swords can you picture Sora and Roxas using? (If nobody answers before they make their appearance, I'll wind up giving them the same weapons as Jay and Cole- Nunchucks and a Scythe).


	3. 2: Father's Forge

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 2: Father's Forge**

~o~o~

Night had fallen on the small village of Ignacea. By now, most people were in bed asleep or eating dinner, though in the one blacksmith's in town, two siblings were cleaning up the shop.

The darkness of the night provided perfect cover for the shadowy figures that now occupied the top of a hill overlooking the tiny village. If one were to look closer, they would see that the figures were in fact skeletons, darkening from age and decay, or burned to near black. Some drove in chariots pulled by skeletal horses with wispy manes of black fire, and all of them carried crudely forged weapons. On the largest chariot rode a hulking four-armed black skeleton, accompanied by two others.

"Er… General Samukai, sir?" One of the two, a shorter, browning skeleton with an eyepatch looked up at the larger skeleton. "Look, it's not that I don't doubt you- or the new Master, for that matter- but… What are we doing here, again?"

The other accompanying skeleton, this one wearing an iron helmet, whacked the eyepatched one upside the head. "Weren't you listening, Nuckal? Our orders were to go and find a map!"

"Oh! Right, right!" Nuckal grinned, rubbing his head where the other had hit him. "I knew that, Kruncha. But, uh… Where's the map?"

"The map is at the Four Weapons blacksmith shop." Both skeletons jumped as Samukai spoke in his gravelly voice. "The 'Master' also ordered that we bring something to use as leverage against Lea. Last I heard, he has two children…"

~o~

"Well, looks like the shop's all cleaned up," said Kairi, grinning. "And you've taken care of the forge, right?"

Axel nodded, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Yeah. And don't worry, I've left the, uh… Keyblade… out for you to fix when you get the chance."

"No stashing it somewhere and claiming it as some crazy invention of yours?" asked Kairi, putting her hands on her hips.

Axel's face flushed as he remembered the last time he had done that. "Come on, that was ages ago!"

Kairi laughed, relaxing. "I was just teasing, don't worry." She stretched and yawned. "It's getting late. We should get some sleep."

Axel was about to nod in agreement, when he heard someone knocking on the door to the forge- loudly. He glanced at Kairi, who just shrugged, before opening the door. "Can I help y-" He was cut off as a bone-hard fist connected with his face and sent him flying against the wall where he had propped up the Keyblade.

Kairi's expression of horror upon seeing the living skeletons quickly turned to anger when they knocked her brother aside. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a steel rod and held it tightly in front of her with both hands like a weapon. "What are you things?! Why are you here?!"

The skeletons didn't bother to answer her question, and instead began to tear the room apart. Furious, Kairi lunged at a few of them, knocking a skull off of one and breaking the arm of another and she swung the rod around. "This is my father's forge, you creeps!"

"Your father's forge, eh?"

Kairi whirled around to see two more skeletons standing in the entrance. The helmeted one probably would have been grinning if it weren't for the fact that his lack of skin made this impossible. "So that means you're his daughter, right?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" The eye patch-wearing skeleton bounced up and down a bit. "Does that mean she's the leverage we hafta get?"

Gritting her teeth, Kairi swung the steel rod at the one wearing a helmet, only for him to grab it in his hand when it was inches away from his face. "Yep! And looks like she's a feisty one, too."

Kairi tried to pull the rod from his grip. "Leverage?! What are you talking-!"

She was cut off as another skeleton came from behind and clamped a bony hand over her mouth, while forcibly pulling her out of the forge. "Take her to General Samukai," ordered Kruncha. "The rest of you, keep searching the shop! Tear it apart if you have to!"

At around this time, Axel had come to, just in time to see the skeletons carrying his sister out of the forge. Gritting his teeth, he got to his feet and grabbed the closest thing to him to use as a weapon and brandished it at the closest enemies to him. "Let my sister go and get out of here, you freaks!"

The skeletons all stared at him, before bursting out laughing. Frowning, Axel looked to the sword in his hand, wondering what seemed so funny, only for his fierce expression to turn to one of confusion as he saw, in his hand, the "Keyblade." He groaned internally. _Why couldn't I have picked up an actual sword?_

Seeing the skeletons advance on him, however, he put aside his embarrassment and swung the misshapen blade at one of the skeletons. The blade connected with its skull, knocking it off the body. Axel grinned triumphantly, though it quickly faded when the skull rolled to his feet, and despite being detached from its body, opened its jaw and clamped its teeth down on his foot. Axel yelped, dropping the Keyblade, and hopped around on one foot, flailing the other in an effort to get the skull to fall off. Much to his embarrassment, the other skeletons all stopped what they were doing and burst out laughing at the sight.

"Get off..!" he growled, finally flinging the skull off his foot and sending it crashing into the sign at the front of the store. With a loud creaking sound, the sign slowly fell to the ground, revealing a sheet of paper stretched out on the back. To Axel's dismay, the skeletons all cheered loudly and grabbed the paper, while Nuckal grinned down at him. "Thanks for the help, kid! As a reward, how's about we pummel ya so you can't follow us?"

Axel swallowed, picking up the Keyblade again. "You can try…"

"Not on my watch, you won't!"

Axel and the skeletons all looked to the source of the new voice, just to shield their eyes as a whirlwind of golden light tore through the enemies immediately in front of Axel. When the light and wind had faded, Axel lowered his arm, and his jaw fell open. Standing there in front of him, taking on a defensive position, was the man in a white cloak. Only now, the man's hood was down, allowing a view of his semi-spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. In his left hand, he held a short, thin sword in a backwards grip.

Nuckal, clutching the rolled up paper in his fist, yelped as he recognized the man too. "Y-You're the guy! The one who's the kid of the one guy! V-Ventus, right?!"

Axel scrunched up his face at the extremely vague description of who the man was, but the man himself didn't seem perturbed. In fact, Ventus actually smirked. "I see my reputation precedes me," he said with a grin. "Sorry, but I made a promise a long time ago to this kid's father. You're not going to touch him so long as I'm around." Axel was even more confused at this statement. The guy barely looked like he was in his twenties, let alone old enough to have been friends with his father.

Nuckal grimaced and backed up. "Alright, alright… We won't touch him. In fact, we're out of here!" He turned to the other skeletons and shouted for them to retreat, before they all took off running.

Ventus frowned when he saw that they had taken the map with them, but then turned to Axel. "You're lucky I came when I did. Your fighting needs a lot of work."

"Wait… You mean you saw the whole thing?"

The blond nodded. "Everything, right from the moment you foolishly allowed them to enter your father's forge."

"Then… You saw them take Kairi?!" Axel's blood was almost boiling with rage. "Why didn't you stop them sooner, then?! Why did you wait until the last second?!"

"I wanted to see what you could do," said Ventus simply. "Protecting and saving your sister should have been the right push, but if flailing around… that," He gestured to the 'Keyblade,' " and hopping around on one foot, is the best you can do, you've got a long way to go before you can become as great a warrior as your father was."

"My father?" Axel frowned at this. "My father was a blacksmith. And what would you know about him anyway? I don't believe for one second you made a promise to him. You're, what? Like, twenty, twenty-five at most?" He waved a hand dismissively.

Ventus crossed his arms over his chest, also frowning. "Actually, I'm a _hundred_-twenty-three, to be exact."

Axel stared at the blond in front of him incredulously. "…You're kidding."

"I'm serious."

"…Well, you look good for being over a hundred," Axel said, in a weak attempt at a joke. "What's your secret, huh?"

"Tea," Ventus smiled faintly. "Yesterday's tea. It was my own father's idea that my brother and I drink it."

Axel snorted. "Your father told you to drink tea to become immortal?"

"I'm not immortal," the blond said seriously. "I can still get sick or injured. In fact, I can't tell you how many times your father saved my life."

"Again with my father," Axel mumbled. "Did you actually know him?"

"I did," said Ventus, nodding. "We were good friends. Your father may have been a bit of a hothead, but he was an honest man."

Axel's eyes widened as he remembered something from when he was a kid. _'Your father is an honest man. He speaks the truth, young one.' _"No way… I remember you..! All those years ago, when I was just a kid!"

Ventus smiled. "So you remember?"

"Yeah… You really don't look any older. Actually…" He frowned, confused. "Maybe my memory's just fuzzy, but… You actually look younger."

Ventus just shrugged. "Like I said, tea. But that's not the important thing. I actually came here now because of that meeting ten years ago." His expression became serious again. "When I last saw your father, I asked him to hide a map for me. In return, he asked me to promise to look after you and your sister. Unfortunately, the Army of the Underworld has taken both the map, and your sister. Fortunately, I don't need the map, but if we want to find her, we have to get to the locations on the map before they do."

Axel frowned. "And… where exactly does the map lead?"

"To the locations of the four golden weapons."

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

This chapter had even more changes from the original story than I had anticipated. The decision to keep Ventus young, the skeletons stealing Kairi before Ventus shows up, even the Hellhorses instead of the monster trucks (I honestly can't imagine skeletons invading a forge in a rural village using overly pimped out monster trucks- hence the chariots drawn by creepy horses).

Writing the dialogue for Axel and Ventus was much more difficult than I thought it would be, but as it is now, I'm satisfied for the time being. Unfortunately, the choice to keep Ventus young may cause me some problems in the future. For now, though, I'm just seeing where the story takes me- and him for that matter.

Fun fact: The biggest inspiration for this chapter was Axel (My cat, not the character). Thank you, Axel, for sticking by my side- literally- as I worked my way through the writing of this chapter. Even if you were (and are) asleep the whole time.


	4. 3: Story of Light and Dark

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 3: Story of Light and Dark**

~o~o~

"So… How much farther do… we have to climb…?" Axel said between breaths as he reached for the next handhold. Apparently, Ventus was taking him to some monastery at the very top of a mountain to train at before they could rescue Kairi. The problem was that whatever path used to lead up the mountainside was no longer available, so they had to climb up the hard way.

Ventus was already much higher up than Axel, and looked down at him with a grin. "Not too much farther now, don't worry." He scrambled higher up the steep mountainside, seeming to find places to put his hands and feet effortlessly.

"And… You'll explain… when we get up there…?"

Ventus paused for a moment, before resuming his climb. "Yeah. You do deserve an actual explanation." He suddenly disappeared over a ledge, only to reappear, looking down at Axel, with an arm extended down towards him.

Realizing why Ventus was doing that, Axel shook his head. "No thanks…. I'll get up there… myself…"

"You're just as stubborn as your father was," sighed Ventus. Before Axel could protest, he leaned farther down and grabbed his wrist, pulling him up.

"Thanks, but I was doing just fine on my own," Axel grumbled, getting to his feet.

"Sure you were," Ventus laughed. "Anyway, allow me to present… the Monastery of Departure." He extended an arm towards the structure before them.

Axel frowned. All he could see was a very high, off-white wall, with bright green ivy clinging to it in some places. "Don't tell me we're going to have to scale this thing, too."

The blond laughed again. "Come on. The entrance is around this way." He led Axel along the wall, and around a corner, to a round gate made from gold embedded in the wall. The gate was open, revealing a courtyard made from various blue-tinted cobblestone arranged in an intricate design. Around the courtyard was what appeared to be an obstacle course of sorts. Beyond the courtyard was a building colored similarly to the wall around it, with a roof made from golden shingles. All in all, it looked beautiful, yet simple.

"Wait," said Axel. "If the entrance is over here, how come we didn't just climb up this part of the mountain…?" He looked behind himself down at the mountainside, and gaped in disbelief at what he saw- a wide, well cared for path winding down the mountain, with no obstructions or anything to block it as far as he could see. He furiously turned back to Ventus, who was trying not to laugh. "You… Are you kidding me?! We could have taken this path the whole time?!"

"Sorry," the blond snickered. "But it was a good way to test your stamina."

"Then why'd you help me at the end?"

"To see if you were willing to accept help," Ventus said seriously. "Being willing to accept help is a sign of strength."

"I thought I already accepted help," said Axel. "You're helping me get my sister back, right?"

"Yes, I did say that," Ventus said with a sigh. "But first, I owe you an explanation."

Axel nodded. "You sure do. I couldn't care less about the map, but why'd they take my sister? What does she have to do with these weapons?"

"It's a very long story," said Ventus. "But if you're willing to actually listen, I'll tell it to you."

"Alright, fine," Axel said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall. "I'm all ears."

"Thank you." Ventus nodded at him. "As I've already told you, I'm over a hundred years old. My father, however, was over a few thousand years old when he died, and his father before him was as old as the land itself."

"Wait, what?!" Axel stared at the blond incredulously. "How can someone be that old?!"

"If you wouldn't interrupt, I will tell you," said Ventus, scowling. "I never met my grandfather, but my own father said he was a wise man, and more powerful than any force in this or any world. His name was Yen Sid, and with his power, he created this world and everything in it. I don't know where Yen Sid came from, or how he gained enough power to create our world, but he wasn't a god. He was just a man, though a very powerful one.

"He knew that a balance had to be maintained on this world, and so, he created two sons for himself. My father, Eraqus, was responsible for the light, while his brother, Xehanort, was responsible for the darkness. The two were meant to keep their respective element in check, and continue to maintain the balance even after Yen Sid was gone. However, Yen Sid did not foresee Xehanort's ambitions, and after his departure, Xehanort sought to upset the balance and bring the whole world into darkness.

"Being the sons of Yen Sid, both Eraqus and Xehanort were immensely powerful. Xehanort created a ghastly army of beings that couldn't feel pain or remorse for their actions to fight against his brother, and a serpent that, with a single bite, could turn others to his side and put them under his influence." Ventus paused for a moment, his expressions hardening, before continuing.

"Eraqus, on the other hand, gave small parts of his power to a number of his own followers, and then used four of those same powers to create four golden weapons- the Weapons of Light. With the Elemental Masters at his side, and armed with the Weapons of Light, he battled Xehanort and defeated him, causing him to lose his physical form. He then used the weapons to banish Xehanort to the farthest side of the world, where no one lived, and turned Xehanort's army into stone and sealed them deep underground. With Xehanort gone, he allowed the serpent to go, believing it couldn't do anymore harm.

"A few thousand years passed, and Eraqus found love, and later also had two sons." Ventus smiled absently. "Of course, those were my brother and I. He taught us everything we knew, and trained us to one day take his place. However…" His expression hardened. "Something happened… and before I knew it, I lost my brother, and another war had begun that needed the newest generation of Elemental Masters. This war was won much more easily than the last, but when it was over… something happened to disturb the Weapons of Light. They are incredibly powerful, nobody can handle the power of all four at once.

"To keep them from being disturbed again, I hid them in four different places, and placed a guardian at each location to protect them from being stolen. Of course, I expected that I would have to wait at least another hundred years to have to retrieve them, and even my memory isn't completely perfect. And, even if I can remember, there's always the chance I might be killed before I can do anything to protect them, and would have to pass the task on to someone else. So, I drew a map to show the locations of the four Weapons of Light, and gave it to an honest man."

"My father…" murmured Axel. "Then… This was all recent… I was just a kid, then!"

Ventus shook his head. "The war ended years before you were born, but the weapons were nearly stolen when you were a kid. That much is true."

Axel kept his arms crossed over his chest, deep in thought. "You said that you and my father fought lots of battles together. Were those… in the war?"

Ventus nodded. "Yes. Your father was a brave warrior, and he helped many people during the war."

"And if you were fighting with those Elemental Master guys… Was he one of them?"

Again, he nodded. "Lea was the master of fire, and one of my closest friends. In fact, I taught him a technique that my father had taught my brother and me, and I promise you it'll be a huge help when we save your sister."

"Speaking of which, why'd they take her?" Axel asked, frowning. "You never answered that."

"It could be any number of reasons," said Ventus. "They might think she's an elemental master, or they may be under the assumption your father is alive and they can use her against him."

"Well, we still have to get her back," declared Axel. "I'm only here because I want to save Kairi."

"And I promised you we will," the blond said. "But you have a lot to learn before you're ready to save her at all."

"But I can't just wait around until it's too late," Axel protested. "I want to save her as soon as possible!"

"In that case… I'll only teach you one technique," said Ventus. "The same one I taught your dad so long ago. You remember when I saved you from those skeletons, right?"

"Yeah… You did that light-tornado-thing," said Axel. "How'd you do it?"

"That's what I'm going to teach you," Ventus said, smiling. "Starting today, you're going to learn something my brother and I used to call 'spinjitsu.'"

"Spinjitsu?" Axel snorted. "It sounds pretty lame to me."

Ventus shrugged. "We were just kids when we came up with the name. It sorta stuck."

"Alright then," said Axel. How do I learn this spinjitsu stuff?"

"It's simple." Ventus walked across the courtyard and sat down on the front step of the building, where a still-hot kettle of tea, a bowl of sugar-cubes, and a small teacup were already set up. Pouring the tea into the cup, he continued. "All you have to do is finish the obstacle course before I finish my tea."

"Really?" Axel smirked as Ventus added two sugar cubes to his tea. "That should be no problem!"

"Oh?" Ventus raised an eyebrow as he stirred the tea so that the sugar would dissolve. "I wouldn't be too sure." As Axel watched, Ventus brought the cup to his mouth and, in a single long sip, down all of its contents. With that, he stood up and looked in Axel disappointedly. "You've failed already. You'll have to do better tomorrow." Before Axel could protest, Ventus disappeared into the monastery.

~o~o~

_**Author's Note:**_

_(I'm going to use a different format to try and make this easier to read)_

_Ah, backstory. How we love you. Of course, it just so happened to take up most of the chapter, so I'm okay with it. Not only that, but it is very important to know. Some parts of it may not be important for now, but they will come back in one way or another. That much, I can guarantee. _

_Despite how backstory heavy this chapter is, I'm much more satisfied with it than I am with the previous chapter. I managed to fit more than one part of the episode into the chapter and it still flowed well. Of course, I was still very distracted while writing, and had massive writers' block. Luckily, I recently learned that cat videos apparently increase productivity, so between watching cat videos and owning a cat of my own, I was able to get this chapter done._

_This is the last chance for anyone to suggest weapons for Sora and Roxas (though it's not like anyone's actually reviewed at all). Next chapter, we're meeting them and Riku. If you're going to review at this time at all, I'd really like it to be now, at least to tell me what weapons you want them to use. I don't like to beg for reviews, but… Please review and tell me what you think._


	5. 4: Weekend Whip

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 4: Weekend Whip**

~o~o~

"_Jump up, kick back, whip around and spin, and then we'll jump back and do it again" –The Fold_

~o~o~

Axel stood at the beginning of the obstacle course, some parts of which were now moving thanks to a button that Ventus had pressed. In his hands he held two red and white chakrams- his weapon of choice, which Ventus was allowing him to use if he needed it.

He gave Ventus a sidelong glance, watching him as he set the tea-tray down, before sitting down himself. Their eyes met, both of them daring the other to start first. Ventus broke the stare down by reaching for the teapot, and Axel took off.

The first obstacle was a spinning platform with four dummies. Axel sidestepped the first one, then looked back at Ventus to see how far along he was, only to crash into by the next dummy.

Ventus finished his tea in one gulp. "Failed."

~o~

Axel once again stood at the start of the course, glaring at the spinning platform that had stopped him last time. He wouldn't let it beat him again. He watched Ventus out of the corner of his eye, and when the blond reached for the kettle, he raced for the platform.

This time, he dodged two of the dummies, and used his chakrams to knock the next two aside. Grinning, he charged towards the next obstacle. This one was a spinning platform like the last, but this one had several kinds of weapons on it, all swinging around. Axel stopped short of an axe crashing into him, which proved to be a mistake as the blunt edge of a sword slammed into his stomach and flung him onto the ground.

Groaning and wondering why Ventus would have such a dangerous object on the obstacle course, he turned to said blonde, who had just finished his tea. "Failed."

~o~

_This time for sure, _Axel told himself, watching for Ventus' signal to begin. His hand reached for the tea kettle. Axel ran towards the first obstacle.

This time, he easily avoided the dummies, and deflected the weapons with his chakrams. The next obstacle looked easier- just three logs moving up and down that he had to jump on the tops of to get across. He landed on the first one easily and maintained his balance, before lunging at the next one. However, he realized too late that he had miscalculated his jump, and instead on landing on his feet, he landed on his stomach on the log, knocking all the breath out of him. He slipped off the log and fell in a heap on the ground, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach as he gasped for breath.

From where he sat, Ventus sighed as he finished his tea. "Failed."

~o~

Ventus set the tea set on the front step, looking out at Axel. Despite how beat up the redhead looked, with every failure the determination and fire in his eyes grew. He'd been at this for a week now, however, and if he didn't beat this course soon, Ventus didn't think he ever would.

Seeing Axel watching him from the corner of his eye, he reached for the teapot and began to pour the tea. He could hear the teen running and jumping along the course, as well as the occasional clash of metal against metal when needed.

Ventus glanced up, seeing that Axel had reached the moving logs, before looking back down and dropped the sugar cubes into his tea. He stirred it lightly and brought the cup to his lips- but recoiled when something flew into the cup and knocked it out of his hands, shattering it.

He looked up again, seeing Axel passing the half-way point already with only one chakram, and immediately knew what had happened. Quickly, he grabbed a second cup from the tray and filled it with tea.

Looking back up, he scanned the course to see how far Axel had gotten, but saw no sign of him. _Now where could he-_

"Was that one sugar cube, or two?"

Ventus jumped in surprise at the voice right next to him, and turned to the source. Axel was sitting right there, holding the bowl of sugar cubes in his hand out towards Ventus, with a smirk on his face. Ventus blinked a couple times, then laughed. "It looks like you've done what I asked, even if you did have to resort to… unconventional methods." He glanced at the shattered teacup on the ground.

Axel waved a hand dismissively. "Details. The point is that I finished, right?" When Ventus nodded, he went on. "So that means you're gonna teach me that 'spinjitsu' I've been hearing so much about, right?"

Ventus raised an eyebrow as he stood up. "Why teach you something you already know?" Before Axel could protest, he bent down and picked up the tea set and turned towards the door. "You should get some rest. Your final test will be very soon."

~o~

"Geez…" A brunette boy groaned as he swung a naginata at an imaginary enemy. "The Master's taking so long to come back. What's the holdup?!"

"I know, right?" said a boy with spiky blond hair, who was lying on the floor with his hands behind his head. "I swear, it's like he abandoned us or something. 'I have a task for you boys. I'll come and get you soon.' Yeah, right!"

"It has only been a week," a silver haired boy said as he looked up from a book he was reading. "Perhaps he is still preparing for whatever the task is."

"Preparing?" the blond asked, turning his head to look at the one who had just spoken. "Why would it take him a whole week to prepare something for some sort of task?"

"I do not know, but it may have something to do with the noises I have heard from the monastery's courtyard."

"Wait," The blond sat up, giving him a strange look. "You can hear all the way out there?"

"Of course. Can't you two?"

"No way! You'd have to be inhuman to hear things that far away!"

The silver haired boy blinked a few times in confusion. "So… You are saying that I am not human?"

"Of course not! He just meant that you have better hearing than us, that's all!" the brunet explained.

"Oh," The silver haired boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Then, it is an expression?"

"Yep," said the brunet, nodding. "You remember what an expression is, right?"

"It is… when a person says something they do not mean, correct?"

The blond boy shrugged. "Eh… Something like that."

"Boys!"

The three boys in the room all turned their attention to the man standing in the doorway, and quickly stood side by side. "Yes, Master?"

"I'm sorry it's taken me this long to come back. I've been… occupied. However, now's time for me to tell you what exactly I had in mind for you…"

~o~

Axel stood in front of the mirror in the monastery's bathroom, holding an electric toothbrush in one hand. Rather than brushing his teeth, however, all he could think about was the test Ventus had said was coming soon. Mentally, Axel began going over all the maneuvers he'd taught himself from the obstacle course. He'd had to teach himself, because all Ventus did was watch, and if he didn't learn, he'd fail for that day.

_Not self-teaching,_ he realized to himself. _Training. _The course had been designed to emulate many different kinds of attacks or maneuvers an enemy would use, and every time he had attempted to complete it, he'd come to anticipate what was coming better and better. Now he figured he could even battle a real enemy with ease- maybe even two or three at once! Grinning at the thought of it, he brought the toothbrush up to his mouth, but paused when he saw a flicker of movement in the mirror. He spun around and came face to face with three figures, all wearing black and keeping their faces hidden aside from their eyes. The design of the outfit was unmistakable. _Ninjas? Seriously?!_

One of them, holding an axe, made a gesture with his head, and the other two swiftly moved around Axel, surrounding him and brandishing their own weapons at him, being a naginata and a thin, curved sword- a katana. Grimacing, Axel remembered what he'd thought of before. _Did I really say I wanted to fight three at once? I take that back!_

As the axe-wielding ninja advanced, Axel didn't have time to think. He turned the toothbrush on and shoved it against the cloth covering their mouth. To his surprise, the ninja's mouth must have been open beneath the cloth, because the cloth caved and the toothbrush was stuck in their mouth. The ninja glared at him, and Axel ducked just as he spat out the toothbrush.

The still-vibrating toothbrush hit the sword-wielder in the face, bouncing off and flying through the air, before falling down the back of the naginata-wielder's shirt. He began shaking at the uncomfortable feeling as the axe-wielder laughed silently.

Axel didn't stick around to watch the scene caused by his toothbrush. He climbed up the supports on the wall and onto the rafters, running along them. He came to a stop as one of the ninja- the one with an axe- swung onto the rafter from below, landing right in his path. The one with a naginata was running along the rafters towards him from behind.

With a "hi-yah!" the axe wielder attempted a flying kick at Axel- attempted, because the redhead was able to easily side-step, and the two ninjas crashed into each other and fell to the ground. Axel grinned down at them. "Serves ya right!" he said with a chuckle, before something slammed into him and sent him crashing through the roof.

He landed in the courtyard with a groan, rolling across the ground until he bumped into something. Axel shook his head to clear it, and looked across the courtyard to the door, which opened as the three ninja charged into the courtyard. Axel looked around quickly, trying to find a means to fight them off or even just an escape route. His eyes landed on what he had bumped into. _Of course..! This is what Ventus uses to activate the obstacle course!_

With a grin, he pressed the switch. Three pairs of eyes widened as the course was activated. A training dummy crashed into the one with a katana, knocking him to the ground. A sword slammed into the stomach of the naginata-wielder, throwing him against the wall. A pole shot up from under the feet of the ninja with an axe, sending him flying through the air and causing him to land hard on his back.

"That does it," the axe wielder grumbled, tossing said axe aside and lunging at Axel. Axel quickly sidestepped the attack and elbowed the ninja in the back. He grunted in pain, but quickly spun around and tackled the redhead to the ground, where the two began rolling around as they tried to get the upper hand. The other two ninja stood off to the side, watching.

"You got this, Roxas! Get him!" one of them cheered.

The other seemed more confused. "I do not understand. Shouldn't we be helping him?"

"That's enough!"

All four of the boys looked up as Ventus emerged from the building, frowning at them. To Axel's surprise, the three ninja all got into a line and bowed. "Yes, Master Ventus."

"'Master' Ventus?" Axel echoed, confused. "Wait a minute… Are these guys your students or something?"

"So are you," said Ventus with a smile.

"Then… This was my final test, wasn't it?"

"Woah woah!" one of the ninja protested. "You never said anything about a fourth! It's always supposed to be three; it's classing story telling! I mean, there's the three musketeers, the three little pigs, the three blind mice-"

The one Axel has been fighting with interrupted. "What Sora's trying to say is that the three of us have trained together, and can work together as a team. See, we're solid."

Axel snickered at that. "Didn't look so solid to me."

"Master," the third said, stepping forward. "What is the meaning of this? Why _is _there a fourth?"

"There are four of you, because there are four Weapons of Light," said Ventus. "And each one of you is a descendant or relative of the Elemental Masters connected to these weapons. Even if you are not Elemental Masters yourselves, you are at least in tune with said element enough that I took it upon myself to train you." With that said, he reached into his cloak and pulled out four bundles of colored fabric, handing one of them to Axel.

Axel unfolded the red bundle in his arms enough to see what he was holding. "This is… a ninja suit? Or… ninja outfit? Whatever the term is?"

Ventus nodded. "Axel, you are the son of Lea, Master of Fire. His flame still burns bright within you."

He moved down the line to one of the ninja, who removed his hood as Ventus approached. Axel wondered how the brunet's spiky hair could fit beneath the hood. "Sora is the nephew of Larxene, Master of Lightning."

"So I'm blue, huh?" Sora said with a grin as he took his own bundle. "Great color. I think it'll really bring out my eyes."

"What, are you some kind of fashion expert?" asked Axel sarcastically.

"Ha ha. Very funny," Sora rolled his eyes. "I do a little inventing, I dabble in model building… A bit of cooking, some poetry…"

"And you can talk at a hundred words per second," one of the other ninja said as he removed his own hood. Like Sora, he also had spiky hair, though his was blond instead of brown. Ventus handed him a bundle of his own, which he looked at incredulously. "Wait a minute… This is still black!"

Ventus ignored him as he spoke. "Roxas is strong and solid as a rock, and a descendant of Alaeus, the Master of Earth."

"Strong as a rock, huh?" asked Axel.

"Yep," said Roxas with a smirk. "And for the record, there ain't nothing in this world I'm afraid of."

"Except for dragons," said the last ninja, who had yet to remove his hood.

"Dragons aren't in this world, Riku," said Roxas.

Ventus approached Riku, prompting him to remove his hood too. Unlike the other two, his silver hair lay flat, though it was a bit longer than chin length, and his face was expressionless. The bundle he was given was white. "As for you, Riku… I do not know who your family is, but I do know that you are related to the Master of Ice somehow."

"He also has a sixth sense," Roxas stage whispered to Axel, explaining. "We thought we was a seer of some sort for the longest time."

"Yeah?" said Axel. "Well, I sense this one takes things a little too seriously."

Riku, having heard Axel's remark, looked over at him in surprise. "You also have the gift?"

Sora chuckled and put a hand on Riku's shoulder. "He was just making a joke. Remember when we talked about having a sense of humor?"

"Yes," said Riku, with an exaggerated, forced smile. "It was a joke. Ha ha."

_Is this guy for real? _Axel wondered.

Ventus had returned to the front step of the monastery and stood there, looking at the four of them. "You four are the ones who will retrieve the Weapons of Light, and will be their protectors from here on out. From this point on, you four are a team."

"But what about my sister?!" Axel protested.

"When we find the weapons, we will find your sister," said Ventus. "Get some rest. Tomorrow, we'll go after the first weapon." With that, he went back inside.

"So you have a sister?" asked Sora. "We're saving a girl?" Then he grinned widely. "Is she hot?"

"Sora," Roxas muttered warningly.

Sora held his hands up defensively. "Hey, I just wanna know what we're getting ourselves into… Does she like blue?"

Axel glared at the brunet. "Back off, kid."

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

Well, this chapter turned out much longer than I thought it would. A lot of the dialogue came directly from the episode, mostly because I had to watch it again so I could remember what was going on between the training and them getting their new ninja outfits.

If Riku seems OOC at all, this is intentional. Don't worry- he'll grow into the Riku you're all familiar with. For now, however, he's a bit more similar to how Roxas was at the beginning of 358/2 Days. It'll all be explained in the future.

Many thanks go to TinySongbird for suggesting the naginata and the axe. I think the naginata suits Sora perfectly, even if it is typically used as a women's weapon. I've been looking up Youtube videos of people fighting with them so I can get a better grasp of it.

I'm thinking of adding quotes at the beginning of each chapter, whether they're from a song or the show or just have something to do with the chapter in general, but what do you think?

Thanks for the reviews last chapter! They really gave me the motivation to finish this chapter sooner!


	6. 5: Spinning out in Color

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 5: Spinning out in Color**

~o~o~

"_You must be swift as a coursing river, with all the force of the great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon!" –Li Shang_

~o~o~

When Ventus told them they would be taking the horse carriage, the boys hadn't quite been sure what he meant, but they all had about the same idea- some kind of carriage drawn by a horse or two.

The last thing any of them had expected was a cart with a single seat on it- one that Ventus quickly occupied, claiming his feet were hurting him- and four ropes for the cart to be pulled with. Of course, there weren't any actual horses, unless you counted the four ninja who were now pulling the cart along a forest trail up a mountain.

"Great. So why are we the horses, anyway?" grumbled Sora.

"I believe this is some sort of team building exercise," said Riku, not taking his eyes off the trail as he pulled.

"Just keep pulling," added Roxas, panting with effort. "We've got a long way to go."

Axel listened to the three of them talking for a while. Despite the fact that they had to lug Ventus around in a cart up a mountain, they seemed very much at ease with one another. Of course, they had trained together, so they must have been friends already, which made Axel the odd one out. He sighed, realizing that since he was going to be working with the three of them, he might as well make an effort to get to know them better. "So, where'd Ven- I mean Master Ventus find you guys?"

Roxas smirked a little at the question. "Well, you probably wouldn't be meeting any of us if he didn't. See, I was testing my limits."

"Testing your limits?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Like, living life to the extreme. Bungee jumping, sky diving… I had been trying to scale a cliff without any gear when he found me." Roxas grinned. "It kinda freaked me out when he just showed up out of the blue. I nearly fell off! Of course, I didn't feel like going home, so I went with him."

"As for me," said Sora "I already mentioned I was an inventor. What I'd decided to do was test a glider I'd made- I mean, I know there's already gliders out there, but this one was different- so… I kinda went to Twilight Town, climbed up the clock tower, and jumped from there."

"You _what?!_"

"Hey, relax!" Sora waved a hand dismissively. "Master Ventus was already waiting for me at the bottom and I landed on him. After that, he talked to my parents about what had happened, and decided to train me so I wouldn't be so reckless or something like that."

Axel looked to Riku. "What about you? What's your story?"

The silver haired boy stayed silent for a while, leading Axel to think he wasn't going to reply, when he finally spoke up. "I am not sure. Master Ventus found me unconscious, lying face down in the snow in the Birch Woods. I do not remember how I came to be there, or anything from before that time for that matter."

"Oh… Sorry, man."

"Well, hey," said Sora. "We told you our stories. What about yours? Does it have anything to do with that sister of yours?" He said the last part with a grin. Axel ignored it for now.

"Sort of. My sister and I had taken over my dad's old blacksmith shop and Ve- Master Ventus showed up and started insulting some of my ingenious work," Axel began, correcting himself once again. "Anyway, I told him to get out, but later those skeleton guys showed up and started ransacking the place, before kidnapping my sister and stealing the map, and they were gonna rough me up a bit too, when Master Ventus stepped in. The rest is history."

Riku looked back at Axel in confusion. "If your work is ingenious, why would Master Ventus insult it?"

"Ingenious is an exaggeration," Ventus interrupted, speaking for the first time and startling the boys. "Anyway, stop here. We've made it."

~o~

"What's with this place?" asked Roxas. He and all the others were looking over the edge of a ridge down at what looked like some sort of construction site or mining zone. The whole place was swarming with skeletons.

Ventus had one hand clenched tightly into a fist. "This used to all be mountain and caves and tunnels, not even once exposed to sunlight." He pointed with one finger at what looked to be the remains of a cave entrance. "That tunnel once led to the Temple of Earth. It doesn't look like realize where it leads yet, but if they do, they'll be sure to find the Axe of Quakes first."

"Then we must retrieve it before they do," said Riku.

Ventus nodded. "But remember- you must not attempt to use the weapon. While Roxas is in tune with the same element, its power is-"

"Yeah, yeah," said Sora, interrupting. "Its power is too much for us mere mortals. Anyway, let's go in there and break some bones! Roxas, you have a plan?"

Roxas nodded. "Yep. First, we lower ourselves down this ridge without being seen. Then- …Where's Axel?" Sure enough, the redhead in question was missing.

"Down there!" Riku pointed down at a flash of red, moving quickly between pieces of equipment and larger rocks that still remained.

"Ugh, great," muttered Roxas. "Come on, let's go!" The three boys darted down the ridge and began following Axel.

Riku stopped suddenly. "We have to hide," he said in a hushed tone.

Roxas nodded, grabbed a large mine cart from nearby, and flipped it upside-down. He waited for Sora and Riku to follow him beneath it before lowering it completely. The boys waited, almost holding their breath when they heard footsteps approaching and then leaving, before Riku told them they could move. Roxas grabbed the side of the mine cart and lifted it just a few inches off the ground. "Come on. We can still use this to hide."

"Then I will navigate," said Riku with a nod.

"Great. And I'll just be following behind you, being the guy who doesn't have super strength or a sixth sense," said Sora sarcastically.

They moved carefully like this for a while, until Riku grabbed Roxas' shoulder. "We have just entered the cave, and there is a skeleton right in front of us, though he is facing the other way."

"Oh, really?" Roxas smirked, then lifted the front of the mine cart. Sure enough, he saw the skeleton, and he slammed the cart down in front of the skeleton as well. The skirmish that followed was incredibly brief, as the skeleton barely put up a fight. Once it was completely dismantled, the boys slipped out of the mine cart.

"Hey, guys!" Sora quickly led them to a large pile of stones and hid behind it, pointing at a makeshift tower. Sure enough, Axel was climbing it, though to his credit, he was silent about it and didn't get caught. The other boys followed him up, equally as silent and stealthy. As they joined Axel in peering through a hole in the tower's roof, Sora whacked Axel on the head. "What's the matter with you?" he hissed under his breath. "You were supposed to wait for Roxas' signal!"

All Axel did was press a finger to his lips and shush him, before turning back to the hole. They all watched as Samukai, the sole occupant of the tower, examined the map, before turning his back on it and looking out one of the tower's windows. With a grin, Sora silently reached for his naginata, before using the long pole to reach down, stab through the map, and pull it up. "We got it!"

"Then all we need to do now is find the weapon and my sister!" Axel jumped down off the tower, leaving the others to stare after him.

"What's with him?" grumbled Roxas. The other two just shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know either.

~o~

When they caught up to Axel, he had reached a large stone, big enough to block the entrance to another cave, and was trying to push it out of the way. Roxas rolled his eyes and walked up to him. "Hey, before you race off again, you've gotta remember we're a team."

Axel waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, whatever," he said dully, though he did smile a bit as Roxas helped him push the stone out of the way.

Beyond the stone was an intricately carved stone door, which the boys pushed open. Their jaws fell open at what lay beyond. Stone pillars extended all the way up to the cavern's ceiling, made from a faintly glowing stone. Enormous statues were nestled between the pillars, carved into the shapes of warriors of old. In the very middle, a carving of a dragon's head stuck out from the ground, with a golden axe lodged between its teeth.

"Wow…" breathed Sora. He beamed, then shouted "This place is so _COOL_!"

~o~

Outside of the temple, Sora's shout echoed throughout the cave and to the outside, allowing every skeleton to hear… including Samukai. With a growl, the four armed skeleton marched from the tower.

High up on the ridge, Ventus groaned, holding his head in his hands. This is what he got for training a bunch of teenagers. He could only hope that the boys had it all under control.

~o~

Roxas quickly shushed Sora as he pulled the axe from the dragon's mouth. "Not so loud," he hissed.

"Aw, come on," Sora protested. "Don't be paranoid. They don't even have a clue where we are."

Roxas sighed, but wrapped the axe in a burlap cloth that Ventus had given him, before tossing it to Axel. "Well, now that we've got the axe, let's get out of here, okay? We can sneak out just the way we did before while those boneheads are still busy." He and the other three began to walk out of the temple. Not a single one of them noticed the dragon's jaw starting to move and open widely.

~o~

The boys had reached an intersection of their way out of the cave. Axel was still holding the Axe of Quakes, and was looking at it in interest. Roxas, in the meantime, was talking to Riku. "You're sure? You can't sense anything ahead?"

Riku shook his head. "Once we were deep enough inside these caves, the gift wore off. I cannot simply control when it does or does not work."

Roxas sighed. "Alright then. Looks like we're going to have to rely completely on stealth from here on out. Stick together. The way out is right around the corner." He walked around said corner, and froze.

Samukai stood right in his path, wielding four jagged swords. Behind him was a huge number of the skeleton army, also armed.

"Guys..? We've got a problem."

Quickly drawing their weapons, all four of the ninja began to run through the sea of skeletons, knocking them aside if any got in their way. Sora whooped as he sliced through the body of one of the skeletons, knocking its top half to the ground.

Knocking aside a few skeletons in his own way, Riku glanced back to see Axel surrounded by several of them, brandishing a single chakram with one hand and clutching the Axe of Quakes close to his chest with the other. "Axel! Throw it here!"

Axel quickly tossed the weapon to him. "Going long!"

Riku caught the weapon easily, and turned to Roxas, who had run even farther ahead. Their eyes met, and after a brief but silent exchange, Riku threw the axe to him before being tackled to the ground. "There are too many!"

"Let me handle that," said Sora, running to his aid. He hollered as he knocked the skeletons off of Riku, who bowed his head at the blue-clad ninja in thanks. He grinned as he leaped back into the fight. "Hey, it's just like Master Ventus' obstacle course! Over the logs…" He jumped high over some of the skeletons. "Dodge the swords…" He slipped under some of the swords that the skeletons were wielding. "Here comes the dummy…!" He spun around rapidly as he swung his naginata at the enemy, being enveloped in a bright blue light. Sparks danced off of him as the wind around him began to pick up, turning into a small, blue tornado of electricity.

"Spinjistu…!" Axel watched as Sora's electric blue tornado began to weave through the skeletons, picking them up, pulling them in, and knocking them aside badly beat up. "Sora, what's the key?!"

Sora grinned from inside the whirlwind. For him, it was as though time had slowed down, allowing him to attack his enemies multiple times before they were launched out of his little tornado. "I'm just going through the motions, buddy! This must be what the Master meant when he said we already know it!"

"Going through the motions, huh?" Axel grabbed his other chakram, and jumped as one of the skeletons charged at him. _Over the logs… Dodge the swords… _"Here comes the dummy!" With that, he was enveloped in his own, flaming red tornado, and began tearing .

Nearby, Nuckal and Kruncha began arguing over who was the "dummy." The two were interrupted when a snow white tornado with shards of ice in it came hurtling toward them, before disappearing as Riku lifted his katana with one hand level to his head in his usual battle stance. "I sense you do not stand a chance," he said with a small smirk.

A fourth, dark brown tornado with stones flying through it joined the mix. Samukai gritted his teeth, about to join the fight himself since his pitiful army could not stop four kids, when his eye caught sight on something moving through the tunnel where the ninja had come from. "Retreat!"

Four small tornados chased the skeletons out of the cave, before disappearing when the ninja were satisfied. Axel grinned. "Ha! I guess those freaks didn't want a second helping of these bad boys," he declared, flexing his arms.

Roxas and Sora laughed at that, but Riku frowned. "Master Ventus said that there was a guardian protecting the weapons, did he not?"

A low growling filled the cave, and the boys all turned around, looking up with wide eyes. Roxas started shaking and backing up slowly, terrified of what stood before them. "T-That's a…. T-That's not what I think it is, is it?"

"You mean a dragon?" asked Sora.

"It sure looks like a dragon," Axel said in a whisper as the creature rose up on its hind legs, flaring its wings.

Riku took a step back, swallowing. "I do not think we will be able to spin our way out of this one…"

The dragon roared loudly, and the boys all leaped out of the way, with Roxas screaming loudly. Whatever they had expected from the dragon, they didn't expect its breath to make jagged rocks shoot up from the ground. When the boys dodged, the dragon shrieked and breathed across the cave floor again, cutting them off from their exit.

"I thought dragons weren't from this world," said Riku, his voice wavering a bit.

"So did I!" Roxas squeaked, backing up against the cave wall.

Axel looked between the other three and the dragon, then down at the axe in his hands. _It's not like I have much of a choice right now, huh? _He quickly unwrapped the glowing golden weapon, and gripped it with both hands.

When Sora realized what he was doing, he grabbed the redhead's shoulder. "Nu-uh, Axel! Bad idea! Master Ventus said-"

"It doesn't matter what he said if we're all dead, so you better keep your mouth shut," Axel snapped, before running at the dragon. _Axe of Quakes… Let's see if this thing lives up to its name!_

"Axel! Don't!" Riku cried out, but Axel ignored him, thrusting the axe's blade into the ground. A low rumbling filled the cavern as the earth beneath the dragon began to crack and open up. The dragon fell a short ways into the hole that had opened up, but clambered out easily, roaring angrily and chasing after the boys.

"Great! You just made it mad!" shouted Sora. "How do we even get out?!"

Riku looked up at a hole that opened up in the cave's roof, where sunlight was filtering in from. "Spinjitsu… We can use it to get up there quickly!"

The dragon roared again, and with very little time to think, the boys wrapped themselves in their respective tornados and escaped through the ceiling. At the top, Ventus was waiting for them, with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. The boys paid him no mind, however, instead choosing to cheer over their victory.

"Did you see that?!" exclaimed Axel, grinning. "We were incredible!"

"We _are_ the best," Riku agreed wholeheartedly, with a genuine smile on his face.

"Yeah," said Sora, waving his arms around as he spoke. "You were like 'pow!' And then he was like 'bam!' And-"

"Enough!" The boys ceased in their cheering as Ventus frowned at them sternly. "I specifically told you not to use the axe!"

Sora, Riku, and Roxas all moved away from Axel. "He did it," Roxas said in a small voice.

"I warned him, Master," added Sora. Riku nodded in agreement.

Axel frowned, shrugging his shoulders. "What? Using it was my only option."

"But the others all told you not to, and you still did," said Ventus, frowning at the red-haired boy in front of him. "What makes you think you're better than the rest of the team, hm?"

"They took my sister," Axel said in a low growl. "I think that means I have more of a say in what happens here!"

Ventus shook his head and turned his back on Axel. "There are still three weapons left. Maybe next time, you can do it right."

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

Oh boy… This chapter was so much longer than I had expected it to be. It was difficult to describe the dragon's earth-breath, but hey. At least you got to learn a bit of the history of Sora, Roxas, and Riku. And hey, Riku's showing some actual emotion, too.

I'm also pretty sure that this is the best fight scene I have ever written. Yes, it's still incredibly lacking, but it's not for a lack of trying.

On another note, the next chapter might come even slower, since I want to work on something for my brother's birthday. He's also a fan of both Ninjago and Kingdom Hearts, but I don't know whether to write a Kingdom Hearts story for him, or a Ninjago story. He's turning ten, so my mom's finally going to let him play KHII.

Also, has anyone ever heard of Nuzlocke? It is an awesome Pokémon challenge and I recommend you try it. Or, you can just read the comics or stories other people have written about their own runs.

**Guest Review Replies:**

Blue: Yes, it is very rare to find other older Ninjago fans. I know there's some great artists out there, but they're very few and far between. Still, it really is a good show, and more people should watch it.


	7. 6: Frozen

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 6: Frozen**

~o~o~

"_Split the ice apart, beware the frozen heart." –Ice Harvesters_

~o~o~

Samukai faced the dark-skinned figure sitting upon the throne, bowing lowly. "My lord… We failed to retrieve the axe for you."

"…Oh?"

The four-armed skeleton nodded and continued. "The four ninja you spoke of were there. They were taught a technique called 'Spinjitsu.'" At this, the figure in the throne raised an eyebrow, but Samukai continued. "They also took the axe and awakened the guardian in the Temple of Stone."

"Then I take it that Ventus was there, if only from a distance?"

Samukai shrugged, indicating that he did not know. At this, the figure glowered, but Samukai began to speak quickly. "I can still take my army, and ambush them at the Temple of-"

"No," the figure said. "Let them think they're winning."

"I… do not understand."

"It doesn't matter whether you understand or not," the figure in the throne said, leaning back against the throne. They smiled darkly. "Everything is going to plan…"

~o~

"I spy with my little eye something… white."

Roxas sighed, tightening his grip on the ship's wheel. "Look, Sora. I'm trying to concentrate here. I've never steered a ship before, and this is nowhere as easy as it looks."

The blue-clad ninja in question rolled his eyes and looked out at the icy walls of the ravine they were sailing through. "It's not my fault that we've got nothing better to do."

"Either way, it's a stupid game out here," said Roxas. "There's nothing here but ice, snow, and water." He looked up at Sora as he spoke, taking his attention off the steering just long enough for an ice floe to hit the side of the ship, jostling everyone on board.

"I spy something broken," said Sora with a teasing grin as Roxas tried to regain focus on the task at hand.

"Shut up, Sora."

Closer to the ship's prow, Axel and Riku were speaking with Ventus. "I'm still not happy that you used the Axe of Quakes," Ventus was saying. "But at the same time, you did manage to find the key to use spinjitsu."

Axel nodded, a small smirk on his face. "So, with spinjitsu, we're pretty much unstoppable, aren't we?"

"I would not be so confident," said Riku, shaking his head. "Even with our spinjitsu, it is not all powerful."

Ventus shook his head in agreement. "No, it is not. However, there is a skill that can be performed when four or more people use spinjitsu at once in the same place."

"Really?" asked Sora, walking closer. "And what's that?"

"We liked to call it… the Tornado of Creation," said Ventus with a smile. "It creates a real tornado, and a powerful one at that, and from whatever it pulls in, you can create whatever you think of."

"It does sound powerful," said Riku thoughtfully.

"It is," said Ventus. "But keep in mind that if it is done incorrectly, it could lead to disastrous consequences."

"Disastrous consequences?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Just as Ventus opened his mouth to answer, the entire ship shook violently and came to a stop. Roxas quickly let go of the steering wheel and raised his hands above his head. "It wasn't me!"

"This wouldn't happen to be those 'disastrous consequences' you were talking about, would it?" Sora asked nervously.

Ventus shook his head. "No." He looked out at the expanse of ice and snow the ship had crashed into, at a frozen staircase lined with glowing spikes of ice. "We're here."

Ventus and the four boys jumped from the ship, beginning the long trek up the long staircase.

"Man… It's freezing," Roxas complained, wrapping his arms around himself.

"I hear ya," said Sora, nodding. "How do you guys even stand the cold?!"

Axel and Riku both shrugged. "I've just got way too much body heat," said Axel.

"And I have never even noticed the cold," added Riku.

Ventus smirked. "With enough years of training, you two could also be able to withstand the cold."

"Yeah, right," Roxas grumbled. "My hometown's in the middle of a desert. I'm not built to withstand the cold."

"You never know until you try," said Ventus with a shrug, pausing for a moment to look out at the snowy expanse of land. He frowned, seeing something dark farther out in the snow, moving. "Boys… You go on ahead. I think my foot's bothering me again."

"Again?" Axel sighed. "Well, don't expect us to pull you around in a horse carriage this time."

Ventus chuckled at that remark. "Don't worry. You just go get the Sword of Glaciers. I'll wait for you back at the ship."

"If you are sure, Master," Riku said slowly. "But even you have your limits. Do not hesitate to ask us for help if you are in need of it."

Ventus nodded, giving the boys the go ahead to leave for the temple without him. He stayed where he was as he watched them go, and once they were out of sight, he pulled the hood of his white cloak over his head and left the path.

He kept low to the ground, blending in with the snow as he crept closer to whatever else was moving in the snow. His eyes narrowed when he saw what it was. _Skeletons._

There were two of them- Nuckal and Kruncha, if his memory served him correctly. Whatever they were doing out here, he didn't know, but there was little chance they came alone. But even if they hadn't, why were they all the way out here, on not at the Temple? Or even actively looking for it, for that matter?

Slipping his blade from the sleeve of his cloak, he moved even closer. Thankfully, they weren't facing his direction- they were looking up at the temple, shivering loudly. "Why do we have to be out of here?" Nuckal complained. "I'm freezing my skin off!"

"You don't have any skin, idiot," grumbled Kruncha, whacking his companion in the head.

"It's just an expression," Nuckal whined, rubbing his head where Kruncha had hit him. "Aw, why'd Samukai have us come out here all alone?"

Ventus smirked, holding his sword in a backhanded grip and taking a battle stance. "So you're alone? That's good to know." The two skeletons jumped out of their metaphorical skin when he spoke, and whirled around to face him. He grinned when he saw the recognition in their eyes. "You both know you have no chance of defeating me, so you might as well tell me why you're here."

Kruncha hesitated, before asking "Why would we tell you anything?"

Ventus pressed the blade against the vertebrae of his neck. "Because you're in for a world of hurt if you don't."

"Alright, alright!" Nuckal waved his bony arms frantically. "We're not technically supposed to be here, but Samukai doesn't completely trust the Dark Lord, and so he sent us to spy- er… keep an eye on things while he goes and pays one of our prisoners a visit!"

"Dark Lord?" Ventus raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean by that?"

Seeing that Ventus didn't know, Kruncha began to snicker. "So, even Master Ventus doesn't know, huh?"

"What don't I know?" Ventus pressed the blade harder against the skeleton's neck, about to crack the bone.

"Who the Dark Lord is! Why, it's Terra!"

~o~

"Huh." Sora looked around at the icy walls of the temple. "You know, this place is pretty empty."

"But it is beautiful," said Riku, who looked around at the icy walls in awe.

Axel shrugged, barely glancing at the walls. "I agree with Sora. There's not much to look at, but hey. To each his own."

Roxas frowned. "I dunno, guys. I mean, this place is a little too empty. Don't you think this place might have booby traps, or someone came and ransacked the place? What if the skeletons were already here and took the sword?"

Riku shook his head, his sixth sense active for the time being. "There are no traps, and no skeletons within the temple either. The sword is still here."

With that said, he led the way through the long, winding hallway. He didn't see why the others didn't enjoy this place as much as he did. It may have been empty, but it was a simple beauty. The texture of the ice and the way it reflected the light was very crystalline. That, combined with how the way the hall twisted and turned throughout the temple, made the place that much more intriguing.

Ahead, in a frozen cavern as big as the one in the Temple of Earth, he could see the sword, clamped between the teeth of an icy blue, angular dragon that was hanging from the ceiling.

"How much do you wanna bet that this oversized lizard's gonna come after us when we take the sword?" asked Axel.

"The better question is… who's gonna risk it?" Sora added.

Roxas quickly shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere near that thing!"

Riku blinked. "Then, if none of you will, that means that it must be me." He looked at them for affirmation, and when Roxas nodded, Riku walked closer to the dragon and the sword. He reached up and grasped the sword's hilt... just as the dragon's eyes snapped open. With a loud hiss, the dragon's frosty breath enveloped him, freezing him in a block of ice where he stood.

"Riku!" All three of the boys started to run forward to get to their friend, only to stop as the dragon growled lowly. The dragon stepped over Riku, moving closer to the others as they took a step back.

Sora gulped and looked over at Roxas. "So, we've angered a giant ice dragon that probably wants to eat us, and now we're one ninja short. Any ideas?"

"I'm open to suggestions," Roxas replied, weakly.

"I've got one: Run like mad," said Axel, only half serious.

Sora glared at him for that. "We can't just leave Riku here!" Roxas nodded in agreement.

"What do you want me to do? Act as live bait while you get him out?!" The look on the blue and black clad ninjas' faces told him that's exactly what they wanted. Axel sighed. "Fine, but you guys had better make it up to me!"

Grabbing his chakrams, he dashed to the opposite side of the cavern, away from Riku. "Hey! Over here!" The dragon slowly turned to him, rumbling deep in its throat. Axel swallowed, but did his best to hide his fear. "Why bother with those scrawny things when you can munch on a tasty warm treat like me, huh?" He jumped away just as the dragon snapped its jaws on the place he'd just been standing.

"What's the matter?" he asked tauntingly, getting bold as the dragon roared in anger. "Come and get me, you big icy marshmallow!"

"Marshmallow, seriously?!" Sora asked incredulously as he and Roxas chipped away at the ice surrounding Riku.

"What?" Axel asked as he jumped away from the dangerously sharp teeth again. "It was the first thing that came to mind!" He narrowly dodged the dragon's breath. "Could you hurry it up?! Just unstick him from the floor so we can thaw him out on the ship!"

Sora and Roxas looked at each other, wondering why they hadn't thought of that themselves. Working quickly, they chipped away at the ice beneath Riku's feet, until he finally came free. Roxas picked him up easily. "Axel, come on! We got him!"

Quickly, Axel dashed under the dragon and through its legs, meeting up with Sora and Roxas at the cavern entrance. The three of them ran through the hallway, and though it was long, it was thankfully too narrow for the dragon to follow them.

~o~

Riku remained frozen the whole way to the ship. Ventus raised an eyebrow as the three boys carried him on board. "Do I even want to ask?"

Axel just shook his head. "We need to get him out of this ice."

Ventus nodded. "You boys have done your part. I'll take care of this." With that, he placed a hand against the ice surrounding Riku. His hand glowed faintly for just a few moments, but it was long enough for the ice around Riku to crack beneath his palm, shatter, and fall to the ship's floor.

"Woah…" Sora murmured as Ventus pulled the white ninja from the pile of ice shards. "I never knew you could do that! Can you teach us how to do that glowy thing?"

Ventus shook his head, checking to make sure Riku was breathing. "Unfortunately, no. I can only do this because I'm a descendant of Yen Sid, but I didn't inherit much power from him at all. I'm afraid to say it, but I think his power might die out in a few more generations."

None of the boys were sure of what to say to that, so Roxas decided to change the subject. "Will Riku be okay?"

"Yes," said Ventus, nodding. "I can't really feel his pulse, but his breathing is normal. He should be just fine in a short while. It's a good thing you got him out when you did."

Sora grinned. "It's all thanks to Axel over there. Without his help, we would never have been able to do it."

Roxas nodded in agreement. "He's right. Thanks, Axel." The last part was directed at Axel himself.

"Yeah, well, I did what anyone would have done," he said with a shrug. "It's not that big of a deal."

When Riku finally came to, the others explained what Axel had done for him. He seemed very out of it, but he thanked Axel too. Axel just said that they all still owed him, though he did smile a bit when he said it.

~o~

Somewhere far away, on a tiny island far out in the middle of the ocean far from the mainland, Samukai banged two of his fists against the door of the sole building on said island. The door opened just a crack. "O-Oh… Mister Samukai? W-Why are you here? What do you want?"

"Listen, old man," Samukai growled in his gravelly voice. "Those chariots you designed aren't cutting it."

"I-Is that so? Well, i-if I take a look at them, then maybe I can modify-"

"We don't want your modifications!" Samukai roared, shoving the door wide open to the man's dismay. "What we need is something more similar to what the humans use- something even faster than a chariot!"

The man trembled, anxiously tugging of a lock of his graying hair. "I-I'll see what I can do."

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

_You guys have no idea how relieved I am to have finished this chapter. Do you know how much of a nightmare it was to expand a 30 second scene into at least 2000 words? Most of this was improv, and even with the scene I added in the middle with Ventus confronting the skeletons, I wound up stuck with writers' block at the midpoint._

_It may interest some people that I now have my brother reading this story and giving me his input as I write. He happens to be a fan of Ninjago, but even he knows what's wrong with it, or what needs to be expanded on. He specifically asked me to make the Ice Temple scene longer than going in, getting the weapons, and sledding out on Zane's frozen body before crashing into the boat. I had no idea what to do, so I agonized for a few days until the live bait scene came to mind. I think it was a good idea to include that scene, since it shows Axel is becoming more of a part of the team… even if the others did kinda pressure him into it._

_Speaking of Zane… He happens to be my favorite character in the series, which makes Riku my favorite character to write for in this story. I really want the chance to write for him more, but this arc is Axel's story, not his. Still, if you want to see more of him- or any other character for that matter- let me know._

_In fact, if you have any ideas or requests or things you'd like to see in the story, please let me know in a review. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know in a review. If you have any complaints, even, please let me know in a review! I'll do my best to reply to your reviews via PM, but if you don't have an account, I'll answer them below the author's note section _

_(please keep in mind, however, that when it comes to complaints, I'll only respond to constructive criticism or genuine issues with the story- not complaints like "ur story is lame and childish. stp writtin 4evar lol.") _

_Question for you guys: While writing, it occurred to me that there are existing Disney/Square characters I can use to replace a few of the skeletons- namely Samukai, Nuckal, and Kruncha, with Kurt Zisa, Pain, and Panic. Do you guys think I should, or would it not make much of a difference?_


	8. 7: Family Ties

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 7: Family Ties**

~o~o~

"_Family is everything, my dear." –King George, Once Upon a Time_

~o~o~

"So, what's the next weapon?" Sora and the others were sitting around the map, which had two of the four locations crossed off already.

Ventus frowned, examining the map. "That depends. Do you prefer the peak of a mountain constantly plagued by electrical storms, or the heart of an active volcano?"

Axel gulped. "Which one's easier to get through?"

"The volcano," Ventus answered. "Despite the lava, there are plenty of ledges and pillars that can be used to navigate it, and it's much smaller. The problem is that the river of lava leads straight to the underworld, where the Dark Lord's skeletons are from."

"Dark Lord?" Riku frowned. "Master, you never mentioned a Dark Lord to us."

Ventus cringed at his slip-up. "I… may have failed to mention that before."

"Wait, there's a Dark Lord?" asked Sora, eyes wide. "We're not gonna have to fight him, are we? In video games, Dark Lords are always bad news. They're like, final boss material. How are we supposed to battle a final boss when we've barely begun our journey?!"

"This isn't a video game, Sora," Roxas grumbled. "Though it would have been nice to know of some kind of ultimate evil behind all this."

Axel nodded. "I'm just in this to get the weapons and save my sister. I'm not here to fight some crazy lord of darkness guy."

Riku seemed to be lost in thought. "Master, it cannot be the Xehanort you told us about before… can it? You told us that he lost his physical form and was banished."

Ventus shook his head, and all the boys sighed in relief. "No, it's not Xehanort."

"Then, who is it?" asked Roxas.

There was a long pause before Ventus answered. "…I don't know."

The others seemed to accept that answer, though Riku frowned, as though he knew Ventus was still hiding something… or rather, he did not want to talk about something. Still, he let it go.

"Anyway," said Axel, quickly changing the topic. "We still have to decide which weapon to get, right?"

Roxas nodded. "I say we go for the harder one first. Once we've finished that one, the other will be a walk in the park."

"So, you've decided on the Naginata of Thunder?" Ventus asked.

Roxas nodded. "That's the one."

"But, what if the guardian appears at the peak?" asked Riku. "It would be difficult to safely escape from a dragon at that height."

Sora thought about it for a moment before a huge grin spread across his face. "Guys, I've got an idea."

Axel turned to ask him what his idea was, but Roxas groaned and interrupted him. "Sora, no. Not another of your crazy inventions. That's what got you into this in the first place."

"They aren't crazy," Sora protested. "And that was only because of a tiny miscalculation. Almost everything else I make always works. You can ask my parents!"

Ventus shrugged. "Even I have to admit that. When I spoke with his parents, the entire yard was covered with his inventions. Still, they disapproved of him jumping from high buildings just to test his inventions."

Axel frowned. "High buildings…?" Realization dawned on him and he turned to Sora with a pale face. "Hey, kid… Please tell me you're not planning what I think you are."

"You'll see," said Sora with a grin, getting up and going to his room to work on his latest project.

~o~

"Sure… You made an invention to get us off the thing…" Axel said between panting as they neared the peak of the mountain. "But you didn't even… bother to make… something to get us up…!"

Roxas glanced back at him. "Maybe you're just bad at climbing mountains. Although…" He glanced over the side of the path. "I really hope Sora's invention works. I really don't want to become a pancake."

"That's silly," said Riku. "You cannot become a pancake by falling off a mountain. You would not taste good."

Sora looked back at him, about to explain, when he saw the small smirk on Riku's face. "Hey, was that a joke?" Riku nodded slightly, and Sora grinned. "Looks like you finally found your sense of humor!"

"Do you really think-" Whatever Riku was about to say, he cut himself off and looked up at the sky. "Get against the wall, now!"

Everyone pressed themselves against the side of the mountain as a lightning bolt hit the edge of the path where they had just been standing. Axel looked especially queasy. "Maybe I should have sat this one out. I don't do well with heights and storms, thank you very much."

"Oh no," said Roxas, grabbing the taller ninja's ear and dragging him along the path behind him, despite his pained protests. "You're a part of the team now, so you come with us."

Axel followed behind him, yelping in pain. "Owowow! Roxas, my ear! That's my ear! You're about to rip it off! Leggo, man! Come on!"

Sora snickered, following behind them. Riku started to follow as well, but then he paused. He took a step towards the edge of the path, looking down at the trail below them. His eyes widened as he recognized the skeletal figures climbing up the mountain. "We are being followed!"

Roxas quickly let go of Axel. "We gotta hurry, then!"

"I'm on it!" Sora bolted past Roxas and Axel, forcing them against the mountainside again.

"Be careful!" Axel shouted after him.

"I will!" he shouted back. A bolt of lightning struck the path somewhere behind him, nearly sending him flying off the mountain. Thinking quickly, he stabbed the blade of his own naginata into the earth on the edge of the mountainside, embedding it there, and used it to pull himself back onto the path before continuing to run.

"You better hurry, Sora," Roxas called from below. "These skeletons are getting closer!"

"I'm trying!" he shouted back, nearing the top of the peak. Sure enough, the naginata was there… but to his surprise, there was no dragon in sight. He frowned, then inched back to the edge and looked down at the others, who were just starting to draw their weapons as the skeletons drew closer. "Hey, Riku?! Are you sure there's not any traps up here?!"

"I cannot sense any," Riku called back, bringing his katana up into his usual battle stance. "But you must hurry!"

Sora nodded and turned back the Naginata of Thunder, gripping it in both hands tightly. "I got it!" he shouted.

"Great!" Axel shouted. "Now either give us the signal or come give us a hand!"

Sora moved to the edge, about to go help his friends, when a powerful bolt of lightning struck the cliff behind him, blinding him. He raised an arm to shield his eyes. When he lowered his arm, his eyes widened and he took a step backwards. Where the lightning had struck, a powerful, bright blue dragon now stood. The dragon screeched, opening its jaws and shooting a bolt of lightning at Sora.

With a shout, Sora jumped away from the lightning and off the mountain, falling past his friends. "That's the signal!" he heard Riku shout, and the four followed him in jumping off, to the confusion of the skeletons.

The wind whistled past them as they fell, Riku, Axel, and Roxas all waiting for Sora to give them the next signal. The ground seemed to be getting closer and closer. "Any time now would be great to give the signal, Sora!" Roxas shouted.

"Wait for it!" Sora yelled back. He slipped his wrists through two loops on either side of his suit and quickly extended his arms. Two leather flaps that extended from his wrists to his ankles quickly caught the air and lifted him back up a ways. The other three followed suit.

Roxas grinned widely. "Sora, you did it! We're actually flying!"

"We are not technically flying," said Riku, though he was also smiling. "In a sense, we are still falling."

"Yeah, but with style," said Axel, grinning. "You're one awesome kid, Sora. Got it memorized?"

"I already knew that," said Sora. "But thanks."

~o~

After they had landed in a forest a long way from the mountain, they contacted Ventus and told him where they were. When he met them in the clearing they were waiting in, he smiled. "You really did manage to get it and get away. You boys really are something special."

"Tell us something we don't know," said Axel, still grinning from before. "All we need is the last weapon, and we're set!"

Ventus nodded. "Yes, the Chakrams of Flame."

Roxas thought for a moment. "Is it just coincidence that the Weapons of Light are all weapons we use, and associated with the Elemental Masters we're related to?"

"I truly don't know," said Ventus. "My father said that he had made the weapons based on the writings of Yen Sid. I haven't read any of them myself, so I wouldn't know, but my sister-in-law loved reading Yen Sid's writings."

"Sister-in-law?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "You never told us you had a sister in law."

"That's because it wasn't important at the time."

"A sister-in-law sounds pretty important to me," said Sora, grinning widely. "Come on, tell us about her, Master. Is she your wife's sister, or what?"

"I don't have a wife," said Ventus. "She's my brother's wife."

"The brother that you lost?" asked Riku.

Ventus looked away, but nodded. "Yes. Her name was Aqua."

"Was..?" Roxas' eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, Master. We did not mean to bring up a difficult subject for you."

Ventus chuckled a bit and waved his hand. "She's not dead, if that's what you think. But she disappeared a few years after my brother."

"Do you think she's still alive?" Axel asked.

"Yeah." Ventus smiled. "Last I heard, she became an archeologist. She would usually send me a letter every few months, although… it's been almost a year since her last one."

"But there's still a chance she's okay, right?" asked Sora.

Ventus nodded. "Yes. If she were injured or worse, I would know. Besides, she has a son that she wouldn't simply leave behind without good reason to- Vanitas, his name is. He doesn't look much like either of his parents, though. He'd be about nine or ten years old by now, and he's enrolled in the Hollow Bastion Boarding School for Young Boys while his mother is gone."

"So, you have a sister-in-law and a nephew," said Axel, grinning. "And here I thought you were just some mysterious immortal guy with mystical powers, but it looks like you've got a life behind the scenes too."

"Well of course," said Ventus. "Doesn't everyone?"

"I don't."

All eyes turned towards Riku, who was staring at the ground. "I do not know if I have any family. I cannot even remember."

"Sorry man," Sora said quietly. "I can't even imagine what that's like, not having any family. My parents have always been there for me."

"I never met my mom either," said Roxas. "But my dad was the one who raised me, and he's been dating this girl for as long as I can remember. Sally's always been like a mother to me." He smiled a bit. "If she knew I was living life this dangerously, she would have a heart attack."

Axel smiled a little at that. "I don't know what my dad would think either, though I do know he'd be worried sick about Kairi. My dad died a few years back, and he left his forge to me and my sister. I figured he'd want me to be a blacksmith like him, but… I was never any good at it."

"But your father was also a warrior," said Ventus. "And you're following in his footsteps just fine in that regard."

"You really think so?"

Ventus nodded. "I know so. But of course, if you want to go back to being a blacksmith when all this is over, I'll understand."

Axel was quiet for a moment. "I'll have to sleep on that."

"Of course."

Riku smiled slightly. "Your families all seem to make you happy. I wish I were that lucky."

Sora looked over at him. "Well hey, if it makes you feel better, you're kinda like my brother," he said with a grin. "I mean, I don't have a brother, but I guess having a brother would be kinda like you."

"But, we are not related," said Riku, confused.

"Sora's right," said Roxas, smiling. "You don't have to be related to be brothers. Sometimes, you just have to be really close."

Riku brightened at that. "I see… Then, are we all brothers?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah. Even I have to admit you've been growing on me. All of you have."

Roxas grinned and jabbed Axel in the side with his elbow. "Aw, so you do care!"

"Hey, watch it," said Axel. He swatted Roxas' hand away, though he was grinning too. "I only said you've been growing on me."

"But you agreed to being brothers, so it counts," said Sora, laughing.

Ventus chuckled. "Alright, boys. The last weapon is the Chakrams of Flame. If we start walking now, we'll be able to set up camp near the Temple of Fire by nightfall. Then we can get some rest before getting the last weapon."

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Axel. "Let's go!"

~o~

"I take it you have been doing as I have asked?"

Samukai nodded as he addressed the Dark Lord. "Yes, my lord. Your brother's students fully believe that they drove us off when they retrieved the Naginata of Thunder. But I do have… concerns."

The Dark Lord raised a white eyebrow. "Concerns?"

Again, Samukai nodded. "You see, there is only one weapon left, and if they retrieve them all, then taking the weapons from them will be that much more difficult. If we continue this charade, they are bound to retrieve the last weapon, and what then?"

"That's where our leverage comes into play." The Dark Lord smiled widely, his golden eyes gleaming. "I am sure our young prisoner would love to be reunited with her brother, after all."

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

_Another nightmare of a chapter completed! This scene was even shorter than the Ice Temple scene, but I think I managed it well. Of all things, the conversation about their families was the easiest part to write. Beforehand, I was thinking about who all of their families would be. It wasn't until I was watching my brother playing Kingdom Hearts when I decided on Roxas' family. I decided on Sora's while writing this chapter. Axel's and even Riku's were decided from the time this story began._

_Originally, while writing this chapter, I planned on making Sora's glider the exact same as the one Jay made. However, in the middle of the chapter, I got a very HTTYD feel and went with the wing-suits from the second movie. Sadly, they won't make another appearance anytime soon._

_I've also been seriously thinking about changing the story's title. For the time being, it's a good placeholder title, but if I were to change it, what should I change it to?_


	9. 8: Shadows

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 8: Shadows**

~o~o~

"_I wish that I could turn back time and spare the pain that we both feel, but now we've changed. Things will never be the same." –Nothing I Won't Give, Vic Mignogna_

~o~o~

"_Axel…"_

Axel stirred in his sleep, hearing the familiar voice.

"_Axel… Wake up…"_

Groggily, the redhead opened his eyes and looked around the campsite. They had set up their camp in a clearing in a forest near the base of a tall mountain, which Ventus had explained was in fact a volcano. Fortunately, there was no chance of it erupting any time soon.

Everyone else in the camp was asleep. Sora was snoring, Roxas had his head under a pillow, Riku was nearly motionless, and even Ventus was curled up with his back to the dying campfire. _So… If they're all asleep, who told me to wake up?_

"_This way…"_

Axel's eyes widened as he recognized the voice. Sitting up quickly, he scanned the area for any sign of the source. Sure enough, through a gap in the trees, he saw a familiar head of dark red hair, blue eyes, and a short pink dress. "Kairi!" He quickly got to his feet, moving to the edge of the clearing. "Is that really you?!"

Kairi looked away. _"Follow me, brother…" _With that, she ran off deeper into the forest.

"Wha… Kairi?!" Axel took off after her. "Sis, wait up!"

Kairi didn't even glance back at him as she ran, instead going even faster. _"This way…"_

Axel panted heavily as he struggled to keep up. "Kairi, slow down!" He stumbled as his foot caught on a root jutting out of the ground, but quickly regained his balance and kept running. "Why are you running so fast?!"

"_Follow me…" _Kairi vanished from sight as the forest ended. Axel burst through the trees at the edge of the forest, looking for any sign of his sister. He didn't see her, but what he did see made his eyes widen.

The forest had ended right at the base of the mountain. Before him, a long, stone staircase led gradually upwards, to a doorway carved into the volcano. The door was open wide, and beyond it, he could see a bright yellow-orange light. _This must be the Temple of Fire… but… Why would Kairi lead me here?"_

"_This way, brother…" _

There was no doubt about it. Her voice was coming from the temple ahead. Axel gritted his teeth and ran up the stairs, mentally praying that Ventus wouldn't kill him for going in without the others. His sister was more important. "I'm coming, Kairi!"

Axel entered through the already open doors when he reached the top. The interior of the volcano looked to be about what he expected. The walls of the cave were made from gray-brown rock, and were well lit by the lake of lava which turned into a narrow river near the back of the cave and fed into who knows where. There were several stone pillars and ledges that formed a haphazard path to the middle of the cavern, where he saw her. "Kairi!"

She smiled at him. _"Don't worry…" _The image of her suddenly rippled and darkened, stretching and becoming a huge shadow that took up much of the cave wall. Her voice distorted and grew deeper, until it was a sinister male voice. _"I'm right here… 'brother.'"_ The voice chuckled darkly.

Axel took a step back warily. "Wha… Who are you?! What have you done with my sister?!"

"_Oh, so Ventus hasn't told you who I am?"_ the shadow asked, feigning hurt in his voice. _"I would have thought your dear Master would have told you about the Dark Lord."_

"You're the Dark Lord?!" Axel's eyes widened. "Then… You're the one who took my sister!"

"_Indeed. And now, I shall reunite you… if you retrieve the Chakrams of Flame for me."_ The shadow pointed a finger towards the center of the cave, where a pair of chakrams were embedded in a pillar of stone.

Axel gritted his teeth. "No way! I'm not giving you the weapons. I've got no idea what you want with them, but I'm not going to trust a shadow!"

"_Even a shadow has its uses,"_ The Dark Lord's shadow waved his hand, and a black cloud appeared on a ledge close to where the shadow stood. When the cloud vanished a second shadow appeared, this one with cruel yellow eyes and a more feminine appearance. But Axel wasn't looking at the shadow.

Instead, Axel kept his eyes on Kairi, who had also emerged from the dark cloud, albeit with her arms chained behind her and held tightly by the yellow-eyed shadow- her own shadow. "Kairi!"

"Don't worry about me, Axel!" she shouted back at him. "I can take care of myself just fine!" She struggled against the chains keeping her arms tied behind her back, before her shadow gave her a shove and pushed her closer to the edge- closer to the lake of lava below. She yelped as she tried to shuffle backwards.

Axel clenched his hands into fists, before reaching for his own chakrams. His hand came up on empty air.

"_Did you leave something back at your camp?"_ the Dark Lord asked, amusement in his voice. _"It looks like your only option is to use the chakrams provided for you here."_

The red-haired ninja took a deep breath. _Forgive me for this, Master Ventus._ With that thought, he quickly jumped from pillar to ledge to pillar, making his way towards the center of the cave where the chakrams were. After tugging them out of the stone, he spun them in his hands briefly, before launching himself at the cave's wall, using his momentum to propel himself into using spinjitsu.

The force of the tornado pulled in Kairi, but rather than using the tornado to attack, he used it to pull her to safety behind the cover of a rock. When the tornado died down, she was left gaping at him. "Axel… When did you learn to do _that_?!"

"Long story," he said, shrugging. "I'll explain later, but right now we've got to get out of here." Making sure Kairi was close behind him, he carefully began to creep out from behind the rock. "Stay close."

"Trust me," said Kairi. "I'm not going any- Look out!" She pointed ahead at where another yellow-eyed shadow emerged from the wall, taking on a semi-solid appearance. Unlike her own, this one had a mane of spiky hair and was just as tall as Axel himself- Axel's shadow this time.

Spinning the chakrams in his hands as he got ready to fight, Axel glanced back at his sister. "Stay back until I tell you it's safe!"

"Stay close, stay back! Make up your mind," Kairi complained, though she did as she was told and retreated to the cover of the rock once again.

As the shadow drew closer, Axel spun the chakrams even faster. To his surprise, the edges of them caught on fire, so that he was now holding two spinning wheels of fire. Grinning, he flung one of them at the shadow. It shot right through the shadow's chest… but it did not do any damage. Axel swallowed as the chakram flew back to his hand, no longer on fire. _Of course. I can't attack a shadow! What was I thinking?!_

The shadow spun its own chakrams, though they did not light up in flames as Axel's had, and flung one directly at Axel's face. Axel just barely managed to duck in time, though it did graze his cheek. Wincing, he touched one hand to where it had grazed him. His fingers came away red. _This is bad..!_

Kairi saw the whole thing from behind her rock. "That's not fair at all! You're putting him against an enemy he can't even fight back?!"

"_Oh, I'm sorry. Am I being too rough?"_ The Dark Lord's voice echoed as Axel's shadow cast aside its chakrams and- to Axel and Kairi's horror- multiplied. Axel couldn't even defend himself as they advanced on him, knocking him to the ground and kicking him while he was down.

Kairi gritted her teeth where she was, wanting to help him but knowing she couldn't do anything. _Come on… Someone, please help him..!_

Almost as soon as she thought that, an unfamiliar shadow landed in the midst of the Axel-shadows, using a short sword in a backhanded grip to knock some of them away. Unlike the yellow-eyed shadows, however, this one was plastered against the wall like a normal shadow. She turned towards where the shadow was being cast from with wide eyes. Standing on one of the stone pillars was a man with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a white cloak. The shadows' attention turned from Axel to the man's shadow, yellow eyes glaring. "Who…?"

"Master Ventus…" Axel got to his hands and knees, catching his breath after the beating he had just received. When Kairi just looked at him in confusion, he went on. "You remember how there was a man who came to our shop and asked for something special?"

"I remember you telling me about that," said Kairi.

"Well, this is him," Axel said. "He's been my teacher, and has been training me so that I could come rescue you. I owe a lot to him."

Kairi looked at Axel for a long moment, almost studying his face. "You've changed over these past few weeks, huh?"

"Is that bad?"

She shook her head. "I think it's a good change," she said, smiling.

In the meantime, Ventus had used his own shadow to dispatch of the yellow-eyed ones, which each disappeared in a cloud of darkness after their defeat. When they were gone, he leaped over to the ledge where Axel and Kairi were. "I'm glad I made it in time," he said, helping Axel to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"More or less," Axel answered, gripping his side where bruises were starting to form. "I'll heal. But what are you doing here?"

"Saving you, of course," Ventus answered. "I knew something was wrong from the moment you left camp, so I followed you. It looked like you were handling things pretty well, but when things got too rough… Well, I know how to fight shadows, as you can see."

"Are the others here too?"

Ventus shook his head. "I didn't wake them up. They're back at the camp, but they're safe."

"_I wouldn't be so sure of that, Ventus."_

All three of them looked up at the Dark Lord's shadow. _"It's been a long time, hasn't it… brother?"_

"Brother..?" Axel turned to Ventus in disbelief. "Master Ventus, you said your brother was gone."

"He is," Ventus answered grimly, glaring up at the Dark Lord's shadow. "This is not the Terra I grew up with."

"_Ventus, your words hurt me,"_ the shadow said, feigning hurt once again. _"After all, we haven't seen each other in ten years. Or did you forget that it was you who banished me to the underworld in this state in the first place?"_

"That was an accident, and you know it!" Ventus snapped back.

"_You tore me away from my wife and my unborn child!"_ the Dark Lord roared. _"Now, I'm going to finish what I started ten years ago!"_

Ventus gritted his teeth. "This is bad," he mumbled. He turned to Axel. "Come on. We've got to get back to the others and make sure they're alright."

"Wait just a second," Axel protested. "You've got to explain yourself! Why'd you lie to us about the Dark Lord?!"

"We don't have time," Ventus shouted, taking the chakrams from Axel's hands and grabbing his wrist, pulling him behind himself as Kairi followed closely.

"_AWAKEN GUARDIAN OF THE TEMPLE!"_ The Dark Lord shouted as they tried to make their escape. _"THEY ARE STEALING THE CHAKRAMS OF FLAME!"_

The entire temple shook, causing several rocks to fall and block the entrance. The three looked back and saw an enormous red dragon emerge from the lava, growling loudly.

"Great. How do we get out of here now?!" grumbled Axel.

Ventus was silent for a moment. Then, gripping the chakrams tightly in his hands, he leaped to a pillar on the far side of the cave, landing on the side of said pillar near the top, and stabbed the chakrams into the stone. The top part of the pillar began to topple over, with Ventus still clinging to it. Axel and Kairi both cried out as the pillar- and Ventus with it- plummeted into the lava.

"Master Ventus!" Axel and his sister ran to the edge of the ledge and looked down at the pool of lava. To their amazement and relief, Ventus was fine, holding both the chakrams in one hand while keeping the other pressed against the rock. His hand glowed faintly, keeping the rock floating on the lava without sinking.

"I'm fine," Ventus called up to him as the rock began to drift towards the river of lava in the back. "But you have to take your sister and get out of here! This is between my brother and me, and I'm taking this fight to the Underworld!"

"_Then I'll see you there, brother,"_ the Dark Lord hissed, his shadow disappearing.

Rather than leave himself, Axel stayed at the edge looking down at Ventus. "We're not leaving you behind!"

"You have to go and help the others," Ventus shouted back up at him. "You cannot allow the Dark Lord to steal the rest of the Weapons of Light! Axel, go!" With that, he and his rock began to pick up speed as they reached the river and drifted out of sight.

Kairi grabbed Axel's arm. "Axel, he can take care of himself." She looked up at the dragon warily. "Right now, it's us I'm more worried about…"

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

_Compared to the last two, this chapter was surprisingly easy to write, and much different from the scene it's based on. I surprised myself by how much darker this chapter was than the original scene. True, it's a shorter chapter, but the scene I nearly considered including would work better included with the other two scenes associated with it in one longer chapter. Next chapter, Mushu will make an official appearance, as will two other Disney characters and… a hammer (I couldn't think of a better name for the character, in all honesty…)._

_I did kick myself over how OOC Terra seems, but we've never actually seen Terra being evil before- we've seen him possessed, but not actually evil. It doesn't help that in that scene Garmadon's voice sounds pretty similar to that of Xehanort's Heartless, so the voice in my head wound up being his instead of Terra's._

_On another note, my cat is apparently scared of the Space Paranoids world in KH2. He was sleeping peacefully up until the music for that world started up while my brother was playing, and he woke up, freaked out, and ran from the basement and hid somewhere upstairs. We couldn't find him for a whole hour after that._

_I do still want to change the story's title. If you have any suggestions, please tell me. I'm personally leaning towards something similar to "Heart of a Ninja," but you, as the readers, should tell me what you think._


	10. 9: Flight of the Dragons

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 9: Flight of the Dragons**

~o~o~

"_Once you've earned his loyalty, there is nothing a dragon won't do for you" –Hiccup Haddock III, How to Train Your Dragon 2_

~o~o~

Roxas was usually a very sound sleeper. Most nights, nothing, not even a thunderstorm or the trains passing on the tracks his house was located close to, could wake him up.

However, most nights, he wasn't surrounded by battle and metal clashing against metal and his friends calling his name for him to wake up.

Initially, Roxas squeezed his eyes shut tighter and rolled over on his side. "Five more minutes, Dad…"

"Roxas, we need your assistance!"

"Come on, man! We can't fight them on our own!"

Confused, Roxas rolled back over with his eyes open again. Immediately, he found himself staring at a pair of sandaled, skeletal feet. Slowly, his eyes traveled upwards until he found himself looking up at Samukai's face. He scrambled backwards, crying out in shock as he did. "Wha- How- Why are you-" He stammered, still half asleep and not quite able to form a complete sentence.

Samukai cackled, bending down to scoop up Roxas' axe from the ground where it had been lying as he slept. "Why, we're here because the Dark Lord ordered it, of course!" He grinned, swinging the axe around in his hand. In the one on the opposite side was Axel's chakrams, and his other two hands held the Sword of Glaciers and the Naginata of Thunder. "You ought to be more watchful of something so important. Well, that's what you get for entrusting such powerful weapons to a bunch of teenagers."

"Roxas!" Riku charged at Samukai, holding his sword with both hands with the blade ready to slice through the bone.

Samukai, seeing Riku coming, simply rolled his eyes and raised the Sword of Glaciers, pointing it at Riku. A stream of ice shot from the tip and wrapped around Riku's legs. "For a ninja, you aren't very stealthy at all." He swung his sword arm towards Sora, encasing both his arms and legs in ice. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say you aren't even ninjas, yet you all have the audacity to call yourselves that." With another swing of his arm, he froze Roxas in place, then discarded his axe for the Axe of Quakes.

"No!" Sora struggled in the ice, trying to free himself. "You can't take the weapons!"

Rolling his eyes again, Samukai twirled the naginata in Sora's face. "Well, it looks like I already have. I'd love to stay and chat, but we have to go back to the underworld now." With that, he turned to Nuckal. "Give the signal."

Nuckal nodded. "Sure thing, boss," he said excitedly, before bringing two bony fingers to his mouth and whistling loudly.

A loud roar came from beyond the trees, steadily getting closer. Roxas braced himself for whatever monster was undoubtedly coming to eat up him and the others. What he did not expect, however, was an enormous, pimped out monster truck to come crashing through the trees, followed by two more, all driven by a few skeletons. The truck was pitch black and decorated with bright purple flames and skull motifs all over. _Since when do the skeletons drive?!_

Samukai secured the Weapons of Light in a case on the back of the truck, locking it tightly, then leaped into the passenger seat. "Everyone, to the Underworld!" The skeletons all cheered and jumped onto the monster trucks, clinging to the sides and they swerved and sped out of the forest.

Roxas and the others watched as they drove away, unable to do anything. "We… We lost?"

Sora shook his head. "Of course we haven't! If you haven't noticed, Riku's still got his sword. He can get free… Right, Riku?"

Riku nodded. "I believe I can," he said, before swinging his sword at the ice around his legs, chipping at it until he was free. Quickly, he got to work freeing Sora and Roxas as well. "Now, we go after them, correct?"

Roxas nodded. "We should be able to catch them before they cross over. Come on!"

~o~

"Faster!" Samukai roared. The monster trucks zoomed along the dirt road through the forest, smashing through a "do not enter" sign. "We have to go faster if we're going to cross into the Underworld!" The truck swerved to avoid a log in the road only for the back end to hit a rock off to the side, breaking one of the many chains keeping the case attached to the truck. The skeletons paid it no mind, however, and kept driving.

Suddenly, the entire truck lurched, and began to slow significantly. Samukai glared at the driver. "What's the matter?! We'll never make it back at this rate!" The skeleton driving the vehicle stammered, trying to explain and pressing on the gas even harder than before. With a growl, Samukai stood from his seat and looked behind the truck. Much to his dismay, Roxas was holding the chain tightly, digging his heels into the ground to slow down the entire truck and give his companions the time to climb on. Once both Sora and Riku were on board the monster truck, Roxas stopped digging with his heels and pulled himself along the chain and onto the truck. "GET THEM!" Samukai cried.

At Samukai's command, almost all of the skeletons on board began to converge on them. Roxas clenched his teeth. "Riku, you try to slow them down. Sora, you get the weapons. I'll hold these guys off!" The other two both nodded, Riku going to the front of the vehicle and Sora carefully moving to the back, using the chains to help him grip better.

Roxas gripped his axe with both hands, grinning widely. "Alright, you boneheads! Come and get me!" He kept a sturdy stance so the truck's movement wouldn't knock him off, and swung at the skeletons as they tried to advance on him. He grinned as they were knocked aside, then turned to face the ones coming from the other side.

In the back, Sora was carefully climbing down to where the case holding the weapons was chained. For a moment, he lost grip with one of his hands, and he cried out while holding tightly with the other. It took him a while to grab on again, and when he did, he had to briefly duck as one of the skeletons was knocked off the back of the truck. He chuckled as one of the two smaller trucks crashed into the skeleton, before both truck and skeleton disappeared in a bright flash of purple light. His eyes widened at that. _That must be how they cross over into the Underworld! We've got to hurry! _

Working even quicker now, Sora moved along the back until he was looking right at the chains holding the weapons in place. Unfortunately for him, the case was sealed in place by an enormous padlock made of solid metal. He considered using the blade from his naginata to pick the lock, but another jolt from the truck convinced him it wouldn't be a good idea. Instead, Sora made a fist with his right hand and attempted to punch the lock. Of course, all that got him was a sore hand. "Okay. That must be why they make keys."

He tugged at the padlock and the chains around the case, but to no avail. Not finding any way to get the weapons free, he climbed back up to where Roxas was standing on top of the truck, his back to Sora and facing down a few skeletons. "Roxas, I can't- Gah!" Sora began coughing as the blunt end of Roxas' axe slammed into his throat as he had been drawing it back to swing at the skeletons.

"Sorry 'bout that, Sora," Roxas said sheepishly, after having knocked the skeletons aside. He helped Sora up, keeping him steady until he could breathe properly again. "You alright?" Sora tried to speak, but all that came out was a few raspy croaks. Roxas took that as a yes. "We better go help Riku, huh?"

No sooner had he mentioned their silver haired friend, than Samukai sent him flying up to where they were. They didn't have any time to react as Riku crashed into them, sending all three of them falling to the dirt road. As soon as the truck was free of the three ninja, it sped away faster than before, leaving a trail of flames behind until it vanished in a flash of purple light.

Sora tried to say something, but his voice still wasn't working. Thankfully, Roxas raised a hand and kept him from talking any further. "You don't need to say anything," he said solemnly. "I know. We lost this fight."

Riku nodded grimly. "We should go to the Temple of Fire. At the very least, perhaps we can still retrieve the weapon."

~o~

The door at the entrance to the Temple of Fire was wide open, but cracked. Beyond, several large stones prevented entry into the volcano. The three ninja stared at the wreckage in dismay. "What happened here?" asked Roxas. "Do you think the skeletons were already here?"

Riku shook his head, a far off look in his eye. "There have been no skeletons here, though there was a powerful darkness here not long ago."

Roxas' eyes widened. "Do you think it's the Dark Lord?"

"I cannot say for certain," said Riku. "But Axel and Ventus were here, as was another person. The chakrams were here as well, but it's been removed since, and already taken to the Underworld. All I can sense now is… loss."

Sora rasped something in disbelief, but all they could catch was "too late."

Roxas shook his head. "It's not! We can still go into the Underworld and get the weapons back!"

"But no mortal can enter the Underworld," said Riku, frowning.

"Maybe _we_ can't get to the Underworld…"

The boys all started at the sound of Axel's voice, and turned to the temple where it came from. The stones blocking the entrance suddenly exploded and they had to shield their eyes to protect them from the flying debris. "…but a _dragon_ can!"

When they looked up, they were amazed to see Axel sitting on the back of a red dragon, with fierce yellow eyes and a flaming tail. Sitting on the dragon behind Axel was a red-haired girl with blue eyes, and a wide grin on her face.

Roxas, who had jumped behind a boulder at the initial sight of the dragon, peeked out from behind said boulder and looked up at them. "Axel..?! And… Who are you? And how the heck are you guys even riding a dragon in the first place?! Are you insane?!"

The girl smiled. "I'm Kairi, Axel's sister. As for the dragon, our father used to tell us stories about them." She reached up and stroked the dragon's neck, causing it to croon. "Dragons aren't just mindless beasts. If you can get through to them, they're really just big softies."

The dragon snorted at that, almost indignantly, and Axel laughed. "I guess Mushu doesn't like being called a softie, huh? But Kairi's right. Once we were able to convince him that we weren't here to steal the chakrams, but rather to protect them, he was more than eager to help us. Besides, dragons are said to be able to travel between many different worlds, including the Underworld."

Riku seemed to get it, but there was one thing he still wanted to ask. "Why did you call the dragon Mushu?"

Kairi smiled, sliding off the dragon's back. "There's an old legend in the town we live in about a dragon named Mushu who was bullied because he was so small, but then he learned to use his shadow to scare the other dragons away. Considering recent events, it seemed fitting."

Sora approached Kairi and tried to say something, but his voice still refused to work. Riku decided to translate for him. "He cannot speak, but he would like to know if you like the color blue."

"It's my favorite color," said Kairi with a small giggle.

Nobody could mistake Sora's hoarse "Yesss!"

"Anyway," said Axel. "Now we can go to the Underworld and get back the weapons and save Master Ventus. Speaking of which, he's got a lot of explaining to do once we find him." Roxas opened his mouth as though to ask him something, but Axel ignored him and turned to his sister. "Kairi-"

"Don't say it," she said. "I already know. You want me to go home and wait for you to come back so I don't get hurt." She sighed, but smiled. "Alright. Just come back to me in one piece, okay? I'll keep a thalassa shell charm in the store window so you come home safe."

"Oh gee," said Roxas, cutting in. "I don't think the dragon can carry all of us on its back. I suppose one of us will have to find some other way into the Underworld that we can all use."

Axel grinned. "That can be arranged."

~o~

"Easy!" Roxas yelled, clinging to the neck of the dragon from the Temple of Earth. "Not so fast! Slow down, Stony!"

Despite his still hurt throat, Sora managed to whoop as his electric dragon from the Temple of Lightning- whom he called Mjolnir- soared through the air. "This is awesome!"

Riku nodded, riding the very same dragon that had frozen him in the Temple of Ice before. "Yes. This is quite fine," he said, grinning just as widely as the others. "Isn't that right, Marshmallow?"

"Marshmallow?" Axel looked over at him incredulously. "How'd you come up with that name?"

"Isn't that what you called him when you saved me?" asked Riku, still grinning. Axel just rolled his eyes.

"Uh, guys?" Roxas looked over at them hesitantly. "How do the dragons cross between worlds anyway?"

"I don't know," said Axel, as his dragon began to take a nosedive. "But I think we're about to find out!" He and the others all held tightly to their respective dragons as they began to spin rapidly, diving towards the ground faster and faster.

~o~

Ventus moved silently through the Underworld, holding tightly onto the Chakrams of Flame. The whole place was crawling with skeletons and other minions of the darkness, and Ventus didn't want to run into any of them at the moment. He had nearly exhausted himself using his power to keep himself and the Weapon of Light safe on the trip down here, and he did not want to use any more in case he managed to find his brother. _If it really is him and not some sort of trick._

In one of the many dark caves he found, a staircase slowly spiraled upwards. _This looks promising,_ he thought, running up it quickly. At the top, a round arch led into a dark room, with a stone platform in the middle surrounded by a ring of lava. A stone bridge led across to the platform, and Ventus ran along it.

From the stone platform, he could see a black throne on the other side of the lava, but nobody was sitting in it. A chuckle from the entrance he had just come through greeted him. "Ventus…"

Ventus turned around quickly, brandishing the chakrams. The man across from him had gray-white hair like ash, darker skin than he remembered, and eyes that glowed an ominous shade of gold, but there was no mistaking who this was. "Terra…"

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

_This chapter was just as difficult to write as some of the others, if not even more so. Unlike the chapter Spinning out in Color, I wanted to make this at least somewhat different than the original. Hopefully, this is good enough. _

_In addition, I have some good news- there's only a few chapters left in the Four Weapons arc, and then we'll move on to the next arc: the Green Ninja arc. I've already changed the cover image for that and the following arc. When I do begin this arc, expect the characters in the description to change to Axel, Riku, Vanitas, and Marluxia. Yes, I am bringing Vanitas and Marluxia into the story, though one of them is not human and the other is a brat. I won't say anything more on the matter. I'm also going to bring in Alice, Mickey (though not a mouse), Xehanort's Guardian, Vexen, and a mysterious knight with a mecha…_

_I know that in a previous Author's Note, I said I didn't want to give the skeletons a bunch of crazy monster trucks, but after watching a later episode with my brother, I remembered how they even got the monster trucks in the first place- The monster trucks were in fact foreshadowing a much later plot point! So, I included them in this chapter so that the plot point will make more sense in my story._

_Please, do take the time to review. I really love to hear what you think of my story, and it gives me the motivation to continue. Even if you want to correct me on something, or you don't agree with the portrayal of a character, I still want to hear what you all have to say. It lets me know you are there and enjoying my story. _

_All in all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_


	11. 10: Battle in the Underworld

**Way of the Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 10: Battle in the Underworld**

~o~o~

"_Might I remind you that we just magically whipped up this heap of junk!" –Zane, Day of the Great Devourer_

~o~o~

Colors swirled and blended together and wove around Axel as he clung tightly to his dragon. Though he couldn't see anything around himself but the colors assaulting his vision, he knew they were still diving, and still going faster. A part of him wondered if they were going to crash, but the other part of him trusted that Mushu knew what he was doing.

The colors flew by faster and faster until- everything went black. For just a moment, Axel couldn't see anything, before the stone floor of a cavern suddenly came into view. He yelled as the dragon's claws dug into the ground and skidded across the floor. The others and their own dragons fallowed suit, sliding across the stone floor until they crashed into Mushu, knocking the boys off their respective mounts and onto the ground.

"Ow," said Roxas, rubbing his head and looking back at the dragons. "For some reason, I thought the landing would be much smoother."

"I suppose we'll have to work on that," said Riku, creeping to the edge of the cliff they were standing on. He looked out at a narrow path, leading to a system of caves embedded in the cave wall on the far side. "Master Ventus is inside."

The others joined him, watching as several skeletons marched along the path. At the front of the path, Nuckal and Kruncha stopped a skeleton that was dragging a cart behind itself filled with all sorts of crates and barrels. Nuckal leaped onto the cart suddenly, his cry of "Ninja search" reaching the boys' ears, and he rummaged through the cart's contents, tossing everything off, until he jumped back to where Kruncha was and cleared the cart to pass. "They're expecting us," Axel surmised.

Riku nodded, then looked around the area they were currently in. The cliff they were standing on was rather close to the roof of the cave, and the roof seemed to be almost covered with stalactites. "We can use these to sneak by," he said, jumping to the nearest one and taking hold. The others all held their breath as he inched his way around it, then swung himself to the next one. "See? It is simple."

Roxas and Axel looked at each other, then followed suit, carefully swinging from stalactite to stalactite. Sora, on the other hand, was more apprehensive, but being unable to voice his concerns at the moment, followed behind them anyway.

Riku was already far ahead, and had reached a point where, rather than spikes of stone, far more spindly objects hung from the ceiling. He frowned, looking up, grimaced, and looked back at the others. "Be more careful around here," he instructed them as Roxas and Axel reached that point as well.

Sora attempted rasp out a "why", looked up, and started panicking. Kicking his legs wildly, he attempted to shout at the others and get their attention. Instead of the expected result, Roxas just turned to Axel and said "May I be the first to point out what an immense pleasure it is that Sora's lost his voice?"

Axel nodded slightly, then jumped to the next… whatever it was he was holding onto. _What am I hanging from, anyway? _He looked up at the cave roof and immediately paled. Clinging to the ceiling were huge black spiders, with glowing red eyes. What he was clinging to was the spider's leg. He let out a cry of disgust, losing his grip and falling to the stone floor.

"Axel!" Roxas dropped down with him, followed by Sora and Riku. "Are you alright?!"

"Yeah," said Axel, brushing himself off as he stood. "I'm just great."

"_NINJAAA!" _

The four boys all turned to the source of the voice. Of course, they had landed right at the gateway where Nuckal and Kruncha were keeping guard. At Nuckal's scream, all of the skeletons who were standing nearby began to swarm the boys.

Roxas stood back to back with the other four, all of them drawing their weapons. "I count ten boneheads to each one of us."

"I think I like those odds," Axel commented. "The only problem is that they're probably bringing reinforcements."

Riku scanned the army. "Does anybody have any ideas?"

~o~

"Terra…" Ventus' grip on the chakrams tightened as he faced his brother. "Is that really you?"

"Are you really doubting it?" the Dark Lord asked, moving along a niche on the wall and to his throne. "You were the one who banished me, after all. But now that you're here, I can easily get my revenge." He smiled cruelly as he sat down. "Since you're family, I suppose I'll be merciful and make your death swift and painless."

Ventus swallowed, looking down at the weapons in his hands. "This isn't like you at all…"

"And why not? Because we grew up together?" The Dark Lord- Terra- sneered at him. "You know better than anyone about the dark venom that now flows through my veins. It's your fault it happened, and it's your fault I'm like this now. But first," He snapped his fingers. "Samukai, retrieve the Chakrams of Flame."

Samukai emerged from behind the throne, wielding the Axe of Quakes, the Naginata of Thunder, and the Sword of Glaciers in three of his four bony hands. "My pleasure," he said with a cackle.

~o~

Roxas blocked the blow of a skeleton's sword with his axe, before knocking the sword from the skeleton's grip. As the skeleton ran to retrieve its weapon, however, two more filled the place it had previously been standing. It was all Roxas and the others could do to hold them off. "How do we beat all these guys?!"

Swinging his naginata around to connect with a skeleton's arm, Sora tried to think of a solution. It wasn't like he could talk them to death without his voice, and he couldn't invent anything either under these conditions. As he dodged a blow from another skeleton, something that Ventus had told the four of them before. He grabbed Roxas' elbow and tried to tell him. "Hrraho ahh hhreeayyshuun!"

Roxas, not understanding him at all, just looked at him oddly. "You feel a weird sensation?"

Sora shook his head and tried again. "Hrrado ahf creeayshuun!"

Riku looked at him just as strangely. "You ate an odd crustacean?"

"Trrado ahf crrayshuun!" Sora coughed, trying to clear his throat once and for all so he could finally say it right

"Wait, I've got it!" Axel said with a grin, treating the whole thing like a joke. "Two weirdos on vacation. Huh?"

Sora resisted the urge to facepalm at that. "Torrnaado of Creaaation!" He yelled at them, finally managing to speak properly.

"Oh," the others all said, finally realizing what he'd been saying. Riku patted Sora on his shoulder. "Good to have you back."

"Can we do it, though?" Roxas wondered. "Master Ventus did say that, if it's done wrong, it can lead to disastrous consequences."

"We don't have much of a choice," said Axel, looking at the skeleton army that was converging on them. "We're about to have some disastrous consequences! We better hope we get it right on the first try! Fire!" He immediately surrounded himself in his flaming whirlwind of spinjitsu.

"Lightning!" Sora spun his naginata around in both his hands, following suit.

"Earth!" "Ice!" Roxas and Riku joined in. The four of them moved closer to each other, until their respective whirlwinds merged into one enormous tornado, reaching all the way up to the ceiling of the cave, sucking in everything within reach. The skeletons attempted to run away, but were drawn in as the tornado moved along the path. Spiders and weaponry and any sort of structure were pulled in, until the tornado finally vanished and the four boys within dropped down to the ground. Sora glanced back at the path, and burst out laughing. "Guys, look at what we made!"

The other three looked back, and their jaws dropped open at the sight of their creation. Somehow, without realizing it, they had created a somewhat eerie Ferris wheel, lit up with torches, and with the skeletons trapped inside the carriages, which were tightly sealed. What made even less sense was that somehow, some of the skeletons even had cotton candy, including Nuckal. Kruncha knocked it out of his hands and to the floor, much to Nuckal's disappointment.

Riku stared at it long and hard. "The fact that we created this defies all logic."

"You said it," said Roxas, nodding.

Axel snickered at the sight. "We can worry about how we made that later. Let's just go find Master Ventus."

~o~

Ventus dodged an attack from Samukai, dashing behind the four-armed skeleton and hitting him in the back of his head with one of the chakrams. With a roar, Samukai spun around and swung the Axe of Quakes at him. Ventus darted out of the way quickly, and Samukai's momentum caused him to slam the axe into the ground, cracking the platform and splitting a small portion off of it. Ventus shielded himself as the lava splashed up, then looked back at Samukai as he charged at him with all of the other weapons. Ventus raised the chakrams to defend himself and blocked the attack.

It was this sight that the four ninja entered the room to see. Roxas tried to run forward to help, but Axel blocked him with one arm. "This is Master Ventus' fight. We can't interfere." Ventus barely noticed the boys' arrival, though the Dark Lord looked across the room to them and smiled eerily, now seeing the boys that were his brother's pupils. He would be sure to remember them for the future.

Ventus spun the chakrams in his hands, lighting them on fire, and threw one of them at Samukai, forcing him to dodge as it boomeranged back to Ventus' hand. Enraged, Samukai slammed the sword down on the chakrams, before using its power to create a pillar of ice from the floor to the chakrams and trapping them in place. Ventus tried to pull them free, but Samukai cackled, twirling the naginata around and charging it with electricity, before sending a blast at Ventus, hitting him in the stomach and knocking him away from the chakrams.

Terra chuckled as the ice fell away from the chakrams, which clattered to the ground, and Ventus struggled to his hands and knees, coughing. "You've grown weak, brother. But of course, you cling to the light, so feeble. It's no wonder you're as weak as you are."

Ventus clutched his stomach and glared up at his brother. "This coming from the guy who said he'd never spend a day away from his wife because she was his light?" Even as he said those words, he regretted it. It was a low blow and he knew it.

Terra snarled at him, but did not respond. Instead, he turned to Samukai. "Bring me the Chakrams of Flame!"

Samukai reached with his free hand and picked them both up. Then, grinning sinisterly, he turned to face Terra. "No! Now, you'll listen to me!" Rather than the Dark Lord cowering in fear as he had expected, however, Terra began to laugh. Samukai's confusion turned to fear as the weapons began to shake in his grasp. "What's happening?!"

"You were a fool, Samukai," said Terra, smiling calmly as he ran a hand along the arm of the throne. "I was the one who stole this throne from you, as well as this dreary kingdom. Did you think I would not expect your betrayal?" Samukai struggled to form a response as the shaking intensified. "Even I do not have the power to hold all four weapons at once, but when someone as weak as you attempts to do so, it creates a rift in space to worlds that most should never go to- a world where I may obtain the power to be able to wield them myself!"

Samukai screamed as the weapons began to spin around him, their power surging at him until he had been vaporized. In the place he had once been standing, a glowing portal was now in his place. With a dark grin, Terra got up from his throne and walked to the portal, staring into it. "Now, the writings of Yen Sid will come to pass."

"The writings of Yen Sid?" Ventus whispered as he backed up to where his students stood, watching in confusion. "You mean you knew?! All those years ago… Did you know even then?!"

"Of course I knew!" Terra snapped. "I simply thought it would be best to take my destiny into my own hands. But after you cast me here, I can now see that I should embrace the future that was foretold by our grandfather! One day, I shall take the four weapons, and the world shall fall to darkness by my hand!"

"Why, Terra?!" Ventus shouted at him in desperation, trying to get through to his brother. "Our father would not want you to do this!"

"Our father was a fool," said Terra, turning his back on Ventus. "He always did like you best." With that, he entered the portal, which vanished behind him.

What Ventus did not see when Terra had turned was that, just for a moment so brief it could have been imagined, Terra's eyes had flickered blue.

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

_Wow… This chapter started off as a struggle to write, but by the end… It was a struggle to get them to stop arguing in my head so that I could keep the scene from being too drawn out. The portal would probably have disappeared by the time their conversation ended._

_Also, we only have one chapter left until the next arc! Yipee! In addition, I've made a few different versions of the cover, and will switch between them just to screw with you guys. It's just a minor change, and will reflect on whichever character the chapters focus on, but at a certain point I'll switch back to the original cover. With each chapter, I'll probably change the first character in the list, too. Just saying._

_I would really appreciate your feedback on this chapter. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Was there something you did not understand? Please feel free to leave a review._


	12. 11: Tale of Two Brothers

**Heart of a Ninja**

**Arc 1: Four Weapons**

Axel just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a blacksmith, running the Four Weapons shop with his sister Kairi. However, his plans are changed when a strange man from his father's past comes looking for "something special," and his sister is kidnapped by an army of skeletons.

**Chapter 11: Tale of Two Brothers**

~o~o~

"_Lord Garmadon and I were once more than brothers; we were the best of friends." –Sensei Wu, Tick Tock_

~o~o~

After the portal had vanished, the Weapons of Light that had sustained it to fall to the ground with a clatter. Ventus winced at the sound, even though he already knew that they were made from too sturdy of a material to be scratched or damaged by mere stone. Standing up straight, he walked over to where the weapons had fallen, wincing a little with each step after the blast he had taken in the fight against Samukai.

"Um, Master?" Sora had followed him, as had the other three boys. He, Riku and Roxas all looked confused, while Axel had his arms folded, waiting for an explanation. "Er… What was that thing the Dark Lord just disappeared through?"

"A portal to a world of darkness," Ventus answered, standing in the spot the portal had once been. "He's gone for now… But one day, he will return, and he'll be stronger than ever."

"But you called him your brother." Roxas frowned. "I thought your brother was… well… good."

Riku nodded. "You did always speak as though you had a high opinion of him."

Ventus sighed. "It's complicated. He wasn't always…" He paused for a moment, trying to find the right word. "…He wasn't always bad. No one is born like that. Those who turn to the dark usually have a motive, or are pushed into it one way or another." He looked down at the ground, away from his students. "I'm afraid my brother falls into the latter category… and it's my fault."

The boys all exchanged a glance at each other, not sure what to say to that. Their mentor, who had brought them all together, took them in, and taught them everything they knew, had pushed his own brother into becoming the Dark Lord? Roxas was the first to speak. "How exactly did it happen?"

"If you do not mind us asking," Riku added quickly.

Ventus looked back at the four boys. "It is a long story, and not a very pleasant one. But if you are willing to listen, I will tell it to you."

"We're all ears, Master," said Axel, and the other boys all nodded in agreement.

"Very well then," said Ventus. "To begin, I have already told you about the war between Light and Darkness, and of the brothers who fought on each side- my father, Eraqus, and his brother Xehanort. As I told you, they both amassed armies of their own to fight alongside them, whether it be through an alliance or through their creations. When Xehanort lost and was banished, his army of unfeeling beings was sealed away too. However, at least one of his creations was left unchecked- the serpent he had used to bind others to his will.

"My father had believed that, without Xehanort's influence, the serpent could do no further harm. What my father did not realize, however, was that even without a master, the snake was still a threat. The serpent's bite was what had brought others under Xehanort's control. Even without him, the snake's venom was just enough to turn a person to the darkness, and like all venom, it progresses, albeit slowly.

"Of course, my father had no way of knowing this at the time, and so he let the snake go. Time passed, and in soon he fell in love, and later had two children- my brother Terra and myself. My brother and I were the best of friends at first, but of course that couldn't last forever…"

~o~

_Many Years Ago_

"Terra, no fair!" A younger Ventus at the age of five puffed out his cheeks as his wooden sword was knocked from his grip. "You keep using that move and winning! I haven't won once!"

A seven-year-old Terra shrugged, his bright blue eyes shining with amusement. "Sorry, Ven. It's not my fault dad thought I was old enough to learn it. Besides, what's the use of knowing a move if you can't use it?"

"But you spin lots and lots and I can't keep up with you," Ven complained. "And then you make me lose my sword! No more spinny attacks, okay?" He pouted for good measure, putting his hands on his hips.

Terra rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on! I thought you were stronger than that! And what kind of name is spinny attack anyway?"

"I-I couldn't think of anything better, okay?!"

"Sure, whatever," Terra laughed. "But the name definitely needs a lot of work. It's not just some 'spinny attack.' Dad says that it's a highly advanced form of ninjitsu, and it can only be used by-"

"_Spin_jitsu!" Ventus exclaimed suddenly, his eyes shining. "That's what it is!"

"That sounds even cornier than before," said Terra. "But at least it's better than spinny attack."

Pleased with his brother's apparent acceptance of the attack's new name, Ventus grabbed his sword. "Come on, Terra! Let's fight again! And no cheating this time!"

"Okay, but Spinjitsu isn't cheating," said Terra as he got into his own battle stance. The brothers faced each other down, gripping their toy swords tightly. Then, with a yell, they charged at each other, and the sound of wood hitting wood filled the walls surrounding their home.

Terra went easy on his brother, who had only recently begun to learn how to fight, but quickly grew tired of holding back. He knew it wouldn't be fair to his brother if he went all out- again- but after a few more minutes of Ventus fruitlessly whacking his sword against Terra's, he'd had enough. He wrapped himself in a whirlwind of reddish-gold light, and dashed towards his brother. Before Ventus had time to react, his sword was once again blown from his grip, this time over the wall.

"Terraaaa! Look what you did!" Ventus' eyes began to water.

"It's no big deal," Terra said with a shrug. "You could just go right outside and get it."

Ven's eyes widened at the idea of going outside the security of the walls and he shook his head rapidly. "No way! It's scary out there! I'm not going!"

"You'll get in trouble if you don't bring back that sword," Terra insisted. "Dad's gonna be really mad!"

"I-I'll get it tomorrow," Ven said quickly. "And it's only a practice sword!"

"It's still really important," said Terra. "There's nothing that makes getting it today any different from getting it tomorrow, so just get it over with so you don't get in trouble!" But when Ventus just shook his head again, Terra sighed. "Fine, I'll get it for you, but you get it yourself next time."

Ventus brightened considerably. "You're the best brother ever!" He wrapped his little arms around Terra's stomach happily. Terra smiled awkwardly and ruffled his brother's hair. "Of course I am. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay," said Ventus as he unwrapped his arms from around Terra. Terra grinned, then turned and ran to the gate, slipping outside.

Their home was situated on the top of a grassy mountain, built in the style of a monastery. Many people often mistook it as such, to the point where they had long since stopped correcting others. Several weeds lined the wall where it was difficult to reach, and had grown thick in some areas. It was among these weeds that Ven's wooden sword had fallen. Spotting the sword, Terra smiled, and walked over to retrieve it. He bent down on his hands and knees, reaching through the tangle of weeds to grasp the hilt of the sword. His finger had just brushed against it, when something pricked his wrist.

At first, the pain was dull, and he assumed he had merely scratched it against a thorn or something. Then he heard the hissing, and saw the glowing red eyes in the shadows. The snake's black scales were barely visible in the darkness, and he only caught a glimpse of them as the snake's forked tongue flicked out between a pair of gleaming white fangs in a hiss, and it slithered away.

Terra wondered about the snake for just a moment, when the pain in his wrist intensified. With a gasp of pain, he lifted his hand to look at his injury. Sure enough, rather than a scratch, a pair of fang marks stood out against his skin. Strangely enough, the skin right on the edge the bite was starting to turn black. Then the pain became even more intense, and he blacked out.

~o~

Within the walls, Ventus paced anxiously, waiting for Terra to come back with the sword. He thought it had fallen right outside. It had already been ten minutes, though to a kid like Ven it felt like even longer. Terra had said he'd be right back, so where was he?

"Ventus?"

Ven nearly jumped at the sound of his father's voice behind him and turned to look up at him. Eraqus was an imposing figure, with a stern countenance and battle scars to go with it, and a voice that could go from being soothing and fatherly to threatening and angry in only a second. Despite his appearances, however, he truly did his best to raise his sons, and loved them with all that he had. He wasn't overly strict, but he didn't spoil his children either. Now, he was looking down at Ventus in worry. "Ventus, where is your brother? I had thought he was out here, training with you."

"U-Um…. Terra is… um…." Ventus tried to think of an excuse so that both he and Terra wouldn't get in trouble, and Eraqus wouldn't know that he was lying. The trouble was that, having been taught since he was even littler that lying was bad, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. Feeling conflicted and not sure of what else to do, Ventus started crying.

"Ventus…" Eraqus bent down to eye level and put a hand gently on his son's shoulder. "There's no need for tears. I need you to tell me calmly. Did something happen to Terra?"

Ven struggled to stifle his tears, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "I-I dunno. Terra and I were training, and I lost my sword over the wall, so Terra went to go get it, but he's still not back yet."

"How long ago was this?" asked Eraqus, his eyebrows creasing in worry.

"A-A while ago," said Ventus. Eraqus nodded, knowing his youngest son would not be able to give him a more specific answer, and stood up straight. "You needn't worry, Ventus. I'll go and find him myself, and I'll make sure he's alright."

"Okay, daddy," Ventus answered, wiping the last of his tears away. "You won't be gone long, right?"

Eraqus nodded, hugging his son close. "I won't. Stay here." With that, he too left through the gate, looking for his son. If Terra had been any younger, he might have worried about whether he had fallen down the mountainside, but Terra was a smart boy, and Eraqus knew that he was careful.

Instead, Eraqus looked around the edge of the wall. While it wouldn't have made sense for Terra to take so long if he was so close to home, but it was still best to check nearby so he could cover all bases. To his surprise, Terra was indeed by the wall, sitting against it with eyes squeezed shut and clenching his teeth, with one hand wrapped tightly around his other wrist. Immediately, Eraqus knew something was wrong with his oldest son. "Terra! What happened?!"

Terra opened his eyes with great effort, and looked up at his father. "D-Dad…?" Then he cried out in pain once more, squeezing his eyes shut again. "G-Go away! I don't need you!"

Eraqus frowned at his son's unusual behavior. "It looks to me like you do," he said, reaching a hand towards his son.

"No! I hate you!" Terra let go of his own wrist to try and shove at Eraqus with both hands, but Eraqus was faster, and stopped him by taking hold of his wrists. Terra yelped in pain at that, and so Eraqus moved his hand slightly to get a look at the wrist that Terra had been clutching at before. His eyes widened when he saw the bitemarks, the skin around them pitch black.

~o~

It had taken some time, and Terra screamed the whole while, but Eraqus had finally managed to get Terra back home and into his bed. Ventus had watched the whole time, worried by his brother's screaming, and stayed outside of Terra's room as Eraqus tried to calm him down. Sometimes, Eraqus would leave the room for a short while and then come back with something to help, at one point bringing a cup of tea.

Finally, Terra's screaming stopped, and Eraqus left the room, looking fatigued. Ven ran up to his father, eager to know what had happened. "Will Terra be okay, daddy?"

"Perhaps," said Eraqus, though he himself was not too certain of the answer. "That is up to Terra to decide. Your brother was…" He paused, wondering if he should really tell his youngest son about what had happened, or if Ventus would even understand. But when he looked into the five-year-old's bright blue eyes, he knew he deserved the truth. "A terrible darkness has found its way into Terra's heart, Ventus, and he's going to need a lot of help to fight it."

Ventus stared up at Eraqus with wide eyes. "How did the darkness get there, daddy? And how can I help?"

Eraqus smiled softly at his son's willingness to help. "All you need to do is be there for him, Ventus. When you get older, you'll have to help him stay on the right path away from darkness. It will get harder as he gets older, but the tea I gave him should help to slow its progress down. As for how the darkness got there… There was an error on my part a long time ago when I let a snake go free, and I'm going to go now to rectify it. Will you look after your brother?"

Ven's eyes widened at the prospect. Him look after his older brother, even though he was the littler one? How could he possibly refuse that? "Okay, daddy!" He saluted, trying to look as serious as he could.

Eraqus chuckled softly at his son's attempt to be serious. "I will be back shortly. Be safe."

Ventus watched as his father left, before going in to his brother's room. After all, if he was supposed to look after his brother, he'd have to check on him, right? "Terra, are you feeling better yet?" he asked as he entered the room.

From his bed, Terra just watched him with dull blue eyes, not saying anything. On the table at his bedside, a half-empty teacup was placed, barely touched. He'd drank some of it when Eraqus had been in the room, but none since then.

Ventus felt akward when his brother didn't answer, and tried to make conversation. "Um… Daddy said that there's a darkness in your heart now, and that you need lots of help, so I'm here to help you too. Daddy's gone right now, so he left me in charge to take care of you." He smiled at Terra, but there was still no response. Ven fidgeted, trying to think of what else to do. "Um… Since you're not feeling better yet, I'm gonna go and make some soup. That's what mommy used to do when I was feeling sick, so maybe if I give you some soup, you'll-"

He was cut off as Terra suddenly grabbed the teacup that had been sitting by his bedside and threw it at him. Ventus flinched as the cup flew past his ear and made contact with the wall with a loud crash. Ven stared at his brother with wide scared eyes as Terra glared at him. "It's all your fault, Ventus."

Shaking, Ventus ran from the room, terrified. What had scared him wasn't the fact that his brother had thrown the cup at him, however. What scared him were his brother's eyes, which had become a malevolent gold during that brief moment.

~o~

Ten years had passed since then. Eraqus had sealed the snake away, though it had grown substantially after biting Terra. Ventus had grown, and had finally mastered the art of Spinjitsu- yes, the name had stuck after all these years- though initially he had a lot of difficulty with it. Terra had learned to fight against the pull of the darkness, and the black on his wrist had faded to a more coppery color. He still occasionally slipped up, and often disappeared for hours at a time doing who knows what, but around his father and Ventus he avoided the call of the darkness.

Now, Eraqus had brought them into a part of their household that neither of the two had ever once been allowed in. Both of the brothers stood at attention, knowing they wouldn't be here if it wasn't important.

Eraqus looked between his two sons before speaking. "You both know about this family's past, and of the war that took place between the light and the darkness long ago. You know of Xehanort, my brother, and the creations he made to tip the balance." At this, he looked at Terra briefly, who clenched his hands at the implication of the snake. "You also know of how I countered him, by granting elemental powers to some of the people, and the weapons I created to fight against him. Perhaps you might have wondered what became of those weapons. Now, I believe the time has come for you to know."

He turned to a chest at the back of the room, opening it, and motioned the two to come forward and look. They complied, and peered into the chest, their eyes widening as they looked inside. "Father," breathed Ventus. "Are these…?"

Eraqus nodded. "Yes. These are the weapons of light, forged during the battle between Light and Dark."

"Are you sure it's alright for us to show us this?" asked Terra, more uneasy than awed.

"If I thought it would be a problem at all, I would have struck you down the moment you set foot in this room," said Eraqus, and Terra knew he meant it. While he was honored that his father trusted him enough to see the weapons, he could also hear the underlying threat. "I brought you here because it is now your duty to guard these weapons from those who would use them for evil. They must not be allowed to leave our home. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Terra and Ventus both answered at the same time.

~o~

Over a hundred years had passed since then. Terra and Ventus had used Yesterday's Tea to keep themselves young and strong enough to fight over the years and during that time, much had happened. A war had come upon the land against a powerful, nonhuman enemy, and after it had passed, the Elemental Masters had faded into obscurity, and the enemy had been sealed away and become nothing more than fairy tales. Now, the world was at peace.

_And if people think it's going to stay that way forever, they're all fools, _thought Terra. He had long since realized that his battle against the darkness was futile, but he had kept fighting it for the sake of his wife and his unborn child. After so long, however, the effects were becoming stronger than ever. The copper color around the scar on his wrist was starting to spread, and he was finding more gray hairs than was normal for someone the same physical age as him.

In his efforts to stop the darkness from taking him over, he had turned to the writings of Yen Sid. He had expected that his grandfather had notes on such things, perhaps so that people in the future could learn. However, Yen Sid's writings were not advice on mysterious ailments or powers of any sort. His writings were, in fact, predictions of the future, and the more Terra read, the more he realized fighting the darkness in him was futile. If he couldn't fight fate, he'd have to take matters into his own hands.

He looked back at Aqua sleeping peacefully on the bed, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. If he didn't succeed, he would wind up breaking her heart. _I'm sorry, Aqua,_ he thought as he gazed at her, leaving the words unsaid. _If I don't return, take care of our child._ With that last thought, he left the room.

Ventus found him in the room the Weapons of Light were kept in, crouched by the chest and reaching for the weapons. "Terra?! What are you doing?!"

Terra looked back at him, but even as he was about to explain himself his eyes turned gold, and he smiled sinisterly. "It's exactly what it looks like, brother. With these weapons, I'll have enough power to do whatever I want!"

"Father made us promise not to take the weapons from this place," exclaimed Ventus. "And you're just going to completely disregard what he said?!"

"It doesn't matter what Father said," snapped Terra, standing up with the Naginata of Thunder and the Chakrams of Flame in his hands. "Now stand down, or I will have to eliminate you."

Ventus gritted his teeth. "I'm not going to stand around and let you steal the weapons, Terra." He lunged forwards, ducking as Terra swung the Naginata at him, and ran past him to get the Sword of Glaciers and the Axe of Quakes. It was better to keep them on him rather than leave them unattended and let Terra steal them as well. The two brothers clashed, the sound of metal hitting metal echoing throughout the entire house and waking up anyone else who lived there.

The battle grew in intensity, the blows exchanged becoming more and more fierce. As children, the brothers had practiced together, and had learned to read each other's movements. But this was no practice battle, and the stakes were much higher than simple bragging rights. Both of the brothers gave this battle their all, not holding back. Their fight carried them outside and into the courtyard, facing each other down from either side of it. "You're finished!" Terra roared, surrounding himself in a reddish-black whirlwind of darkness- the whirlwind that his spinjitsu had become since being bit by the serpent. He lunged towards his brother, intending to finish him off.

Ventus watched the whirlwind coming at him, remembering when they had fought as kids. Back then, he didn't know spinjitsu, and couldn't keep up. Now, he knew that the way to fight against spinjitsu was to use it himself. Wrapping himself in his own golden whirlwind, he too raced towards his brother.

They met in the middle, but rather than merging, their whirlwinds clashed against each other, sending sparks flying. The ground beneath them began to crumble, and Ventus broke away quickly, watching in horror as the ground opened up beneath his brother. Terra caught the edge of the hole that had opened up before he could fall all the way, the Weapons of Light having fallen outside of his reach. His eyes had returned to their usual blue color. "Ven! Help me!" His fingers were beginning to slip. Ventus ran over to him, but couldn't make it in time, and reached helplessly into the hole as his brother fell, screaming the whole way down until his voice could not be heard anymore.

~o~

_Present day_

"After that, I hid the weapons so they could not be stolen again, and you already know the rest of the story," Ventus said as he finished telling his students about his past.

"So, the Dark Lord used to be a good guy?" asked Sora. "And it was a snake that made him go evil, too."

"His past does not excuse his actions now," said Ventus. "He is my brother, but he has caused many people a lot of pain, and will continue to do so into the future. I am entrusting the Weapons of Light to you four, but what you do is up to you. You can come with me once again to learn how to properly wield them and unlock their powers and your true potential… or you could go back to your former lives, and act as though none of this has ever happened. The choice is up to you."

Riku spoke up almost immediately. "I will stay with you, Master Ventus. I do not even know what my life was like before you found me, but you have taught me so much. If there is more you can teach me, I would like to learn from you even more."

Sora nodded in agreement. "There's no way I'm ever gonna be able to go back to my old life after all this," he said. "I mean, battling skeletons with awesome powers and weapons? How cool is that?"

"Well, if these two knuckleheads are staying with you, so will I," declared Roxas, putting an arm around Sora's shoulder and grinning. "Someone's gotta keep them in line."

"Thank you, all of you," said Ventus, smiling appreciatively. He turned to Axel then, awaiting his answer. "And you?"

Axel thought for a moment longer, mulling over his choices, before reaching a decision. "I was never much of a blacksmith anyway. I guess I'll follow my father's other path then, and become a warrior- on one condition."

Ventus raised an eyebrow. "What condition?"

"My sister comes too. I'm not letting her out of my sight again."

~o~

Kairi sat at a table by the window of the shop, looking up at the charm she had made and put up there. Some of the other villagers had noticed the charm and had come in to ask her about Axel, ask where she had been, or even to offer their condolences. To the latter, she would get angry and tell them that her brother was coming home. They would simply shake their heads sadly, but humor her foolish notions. Kairi and her brother had been missing for a very long time. It was fortunate that Kairi had returned, but Axel had not yet been seen. By now, it was possible that he was, in fact, dead, though everyone was too nice to actually say it.

It had only been a day since she had seen him, however. The chances of him dying were very minimal. Still, he'd been going to the Underworld of all places, and Kairi remembered the horrors of that place during her brief stay. Granted, she'd been in a prison the entire time, and hadn't been able to see the rest of that place.

Looking back, Kairi wished she had insisted on going with him. Sure, she wasn't some sort of ninja like him and his friends, judging by their getup, but she could still hold her own in a battle. That Sora guy had seemed pretty interesting too. Maybe she could have gotten to know him and the others a bit better.

The loud thudding of large wings in the air reached her, and she looked out at the sky, hopefully. Sure enough, Axel and Mushu were flying towards the shop. "Axel!" She ran outside, pulling him into a hug. He seemed surprise, but happily reciprocated. "I'm so glad you're back safe!"

"For now," said Axel solemnly. "The Dark Lord is gone for now, but he'll be back one day, so I have to go and train to fight against him."

"Then you're leaving again?" asked Kairi quietly.

"Yeah. But I want you to come with me."

Kairi's mouth nearly dropped open in surprise. "Do you mean it?"

Axel nodded with a grin. "Of course. I mean, what better way to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get into trouble than to have you there with me? Besides, I think the others would love to have you there."

Kairi smiled widely and wrapped her arms around him again. "Then of course I'm coming with you!"

~o~

Back at the monastery-esque building on top of the mountain that he called home, Ventus had taken it upon himself to look through the writings of Yen Sid. If Terra had seen these and based his actions around them, then it would probably be for the best to see for himself what Yen Sid had predicted. With the boys getting settled and Axel going to retrieve his sister, now was perhaps one of the best times to look through them.

Unfortunately, many of the scrolls were missing, and the rest were ones that had already come to pass, or were too vague for him to make heads or tails out of. There was one, however, that managed to pique his interest, although half it of had been torn away, possibly by Terra himself.

As he read through the scroll, mentally translating it, his eyes widened imperceptibly. This was something he was going to keep to himself, at least until the time was right. If his students found out about this, they would start to fight amongst themselves, and lose sight of what was important. No, it would be best not to let them find out.

_As darkness begins to loom on the horizon, and the Master of the Darkness grows in strength, the Green Ninja shall rise above the others to do battle against his forces._

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

_And… DONE! Done with this chapter, and done with this arc! On its own, this chapter stands at just under 5000 words. I'm sure that this is my best chapter so far, and I'm sure you'll find it is too. If you like listening to music while reading, the song that fits the story Ven tells best is "The Tale of Young Garmadon," from the Ninjago OST itself. I listened to that song on repeat as I wrote the chapter, and it really helped me a lot. _

_I went ahead and changed the name of the story from "Way of the Ninja" to "Heart of a Ninja." I think it fits a Kingdom Hearts story much better._

_I might take a lot more time before starting on the next arc. I wonder if I should set a goal for a number of reviews? At least three to five would be nice. As much as I love writing, it's meaningless to me if I don't know whether people actually like the story or not. There was a point where I was seriously considering just quitting writing this story altogether because I was so discouraged by the lack of reviews. I really do want to know what you think of this story, and your opinions are important to me. Being a writer is meaningless without input from the readers to learn how to improve and become better. I know I probably sound really whiny right now, but your opinions on the story matter. Please, do feel free to tell me what you think._


	13. 12: Vanitas

**Heart of a Ninja**

**Green Ninja Arc**

An ancient evil has been awoken, and Vanitas, the Dark Lord's son, is at the center of it all. The four ninja all have to be ready for whatever lies ahead, but it won't be easy, especially with an oddly colored falcon holding the key to Riku's past, a mysterious knight getting in their way, issues with Sora and Roxas' families, and a prophecy saying that one of them is destined to defeat the Dark Lord.

**Chapter 12: Vanitas**

~o~o~

"_You're just a child!" – Zuko, Avatar: The Last Airbender_

~o~o~

Two months had passed since the Weapons of Light had been retrieved and Terra had disappeared to a world of darkness. During this time, the boys had fallen into a routine. They would wake up bright and early each morning at 7 am for morning exercises led by Ventus until 8 am, followed by breakfast. After that, they would take the dragons out for a ride so they could stretch their wings (Roxas and Sora had worked together to build a stable into the side of the mountain for them to stay in, as well as installing power outlets into the house- with Ventus' permission, of course). Then, they would have free time until lunch, after which they had more training until dinner. The boys would all take turns cooking, though whenever it was Roxas' turn, Axel and Sora would always try to bribe him into letting Riku cook. After dinner, the boys were once again free to do what they wished until 9 pm, which was lights out.

All in all, it was a pretty decent way to go about the day, letting them train for the day they were to battle the Dark Lord if he were ever to show up to try and steal the weapons again. There were just a few problems with the arrangement. The first one was that the boys were all still teenagers, barely even adults, and would still try to get out of their training whenever possible. The second was that they had expected the Dark Lord to return within a week or so. By now, it had been two whole months, and there was still no sign of him. At this rate, all of the boys were starting to wonder if he was going to show up at all. If he was taking so long, why not take advantage of all this time they now had?

Of course, Ventus was far from happy with this, and he groaned internally as he walked into the room the four boys were all gathered in, playing some video game called _Mirage Arena_, with their weapons all strewn across the ground around them, and several half eaten pizza slices nearby. They were all completely unaware of Ventus' presence in the room, even Riku, despite his usually sharpened senses. _Why did I even let Sora install electricity to this house? _He knew the answer of course. It was more convenient to have access to what were now commonplace household amenities, such as phones and internet and television, to know what was happening in the world around them and to know if there was any need for help. In fact, there had been a few phone calls and emails asking for help, but for the most part they were menial tasks. Unfortunately, with the positive side to these things also came the negative, which the boys all eagerly took advantage of, cutting into their training time. And of course, Ventus was the one who had to pay for it all.

Avoiding walking into their line of sight, since he knew they would all start yelling and complaining if he interrupted them and he would lose the element of surprise, he stalked over to the power outlet their game system was plugged into, and yanked the cord out. The television screen flickered and turned blue, much to the boys' dismay. Immediately they started to all yell at him at once.

"What was that for?! We just reached the final boss of this stage!

"Master, I was just starting to get the hang of this!"

"It took us three hours to get there, and we still haven't saved!"

"Why would you do that?! Why?!"

Ventus crossed his arms and glared down at the four teens. "Just because there's been no sign of my brother, it doesn't mean you're free to slack off from your training."

"Sorry, Master," said Axel, looking more bored than sorry. "But, if the Dark Lord was going to attack and come after the weapons, don't you think he would have done so already?"

Riku nodded in agreement. "Ever since he left for the world of darkness, the world has been at peace."

"Yeah," said Roxas. "And you know the thing about peace? It's boring. There's nothing to do. We can train some other time."

Ventus shook his head. "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today."

"Well," said Sora with a grin. "I was gonna eat this slice of pizza tomorrow, but by your logic…" He picked up a slice close to him and raised it to his mouth, taking a large bite.

Ventus sighed heavily, half tempted to rip the pizza out of the blue ninja's hands. He noticed another slice starting to sizzle on top of one of the Chakrams of Flame. "None of you have even come close to reaching your true potential. In order to do that, you must train. You all think you're so powerful because you defeated your enemies in the past, but you've only just begun to scratch the surface of what you are capable of. There is still so much that you must learn. You don't even know what powers you have yet to unlock within the Weapons of Light." Even as he spoke, he could tell that they weren't paying much attention to him at all. The only one who seemed to be listening was Riku, and even he had a vacant expression on his face.

When Ventus seemed to be finished with his lecture, Roxas grabbed his axe. "Well, if we're talking about secret powers, how about this?" He used the flat blade of the axe to scoop up the plug for their gaming system, shifted it around so that the prongs were once again inside the outlet, then used the top of the axe to push the plug the rest of the way in. Ventus groaned as the boys picked up their controllers once again, restarting the game.

"You do not have to worry, Master," said Riku, turning to look at him with a smile. "If there's any trouble, we'll be ready to deal with it when the time comes."

As if his words were some magic trigger, Kairi came running into the room with the phone in her hands. "Guys, I just got off the phone with someone in Wonderville. They've got a troublemaker down there, and need help taking care of it!"

The boys all looked at each other for a full second before jumping to their feet, tripping over cords as they raced to grab their weapons and run out the door to the stables where the dragons were kept. Kairi rolled her eyes as she watched them take off into the skies. Ventus looked at her grimly. "The trouble isn't too serious, I hope?"

Kairi shook her head, smiling mischievously. "It's just some kid, but I'm pretty sure we needed an excuse to get these lazy bums into action." Ventus raised an eyebrow at her, before laughing. It was definitely a good thing Axel had insisted on his sister coming along with them.

~o~

The boys' dragons flew through the air on strong wings, all of them glad to be out of the stables and to have another chance to stretch their wings that day. Roxas was rubbing Stony's neck as they flew, praising how good of a flier he was. Axel chuckled and shook his head at him, musing over how just a few months ago Roxas had been terrified of dragons, and now he was utterly spoiling one of his own. He noticed Sora bringing Mjolnir over to Mushu's side, and looked over to him. "What's up?"

"I was thinking about what Master Ventus was saying," he said, looking almost sheepish. "I mean, we have kinda been slacking off, but what about our weapons?"

"What about 'em?"

"He said that we haven't unlocked their secrets yet or something like that," said Sora. "He may be onto something, since we haven't had to use them yet. I wonder what they can actually do."

"I am curious to find out," said Riku, coming up from behind on Marshmallow. "I, for one, would like to learn more about them."

"Well, this could be the perfect opportunity," Roxas put in. "This will be our first fight in ages. I can't wait to try out some new moves I've been working on!"

"And maybe we can get a treat when we're done," added Sora, grinning widely. "I mean, Wonderville is known for its sweets. It's the candy capital of the world!"

Axel grinned back at them. "Come on, guys! I'll race you there!" He urged Mushu to fly faster. Roxas did the same with Stony, with Riku and Sora quickly following. The dragons soared through the air, beating their wings and twisting through the skies as they all tried to outspeed each other, their riders urging them on. Even when Wonderville was within eyesight, the boys kept pushing the dragons to go faster, until they nearly crashed into the ground below on the outskirts of the small town.

"Hah!" Sora pumped a fist in the air as he jumped off his dragon. "Did you see that?! I totally won!"

"As if," Axel snorted. "I beat you! Got it memorized?"

"No way! My dragon's feet touched the ground before all of yours!" Roxas declared.

Riku shook his head. "You are all mistaken. The winner was clearly me!"

The boys continued to argue for a while longer, all insisting that they were the fastest, while their dragons looked on with vaguely annoyed facial expressions. Finally, Stony whacked Roxas on the back of his head with his tail- gently, of course, since a strong blow would have fractured his skull- and snorted, trying to get his attention. Roxas rubbed the now sore spot on his head and looked back at his dragon indignantly. "What was that for?" Stony just huffed and pointed his nose in the direction of the village. Sure enough, some sort of commotion could be heard from within the town. Roxas turned and looked at the others sheepishly. "I guess we'd better get going."

"Agreed," said Riku. "We can settle this later." The four boys walked into the village, following the sound of villagers shouting and yelling.

Wonderville was a very unusual looking town, surrounded by a sculpted rose-hedge wall, lamp-posts shaped like giant flowers or mushrooms dotting the town, and buildings half-painted either red or white, depending on the mayor's mood at the time. Sora even spotted a pink and purple striped cat watching them from a balcony. "I swear, that cat is grinning at us."

"Cats don't smile," said Axel, waving a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I think we found the source of the problem."

He jerked a thumb in the direction of a fountain in the center of the town, surrounded by a crowd of angry looking villagers. Standing on the edge of the fountain was a little boy, no older than nine or ten years of age, with black hair and golden eyes. He was clad in a black and red t-shirt with a skeletal design on it, and wore a black cape that had clearly been part of some kind of Halloween costume at some point. It was Riku who recognized the boy from a photo in Ven's room. "Isn't that Vanitas?"

"You mean, the Dark Lord's son?!" Roxas raised an eyebrow at the kid incredulously. "I thought he was at some boarding school in Hollow Bastion."

"Guess he must have run away or something," said Sora, shrugging. "Kids do that kind of thing all the time. Though I do wonder what's with the getup."

"Only one way to find out," said Axel. He pushed his way to the front of the crowd, ignoring the protests of the people he'd shoved past. "Hey, kid. Who are you and what's all this about?"

"Wha- Whaddya mean, 'what's all this about?'" the kid asked, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "I'm Vanitas, the son of Dark Lord Terra, and I'm gonna rule the world with him one day! S-So… I want all these people to give me their candy!"

If it weren't for the ridiculousness of Vanitas' demands and his outfit, Axel would probably have been worried about how the boy even learned that his father was the Dark Lord. "Right… So, how're you gonna make them give you their candy, huh?"

"Um… Uh… I will unleash the Serpentine on them!" He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a metal can, ripping off the lid and unleashing a horde of snakes… Fake, rubber, bouncy snakes, which had been coiled up like springs in the can until the lid keeping them in was taken off. The villagers ducked as the toy snakes passed harmlessly over their heads, then resumed yelling at the kid.

Axel sighed, reaching over and lifting the boy off the fountain by his cape and carrying him away from the mob of angry villagers to where the other ninja were, despite Vanitas' protests. "If you wanna try and scare people, you'll have to do a lot better than using kids' bedtime stories. Got it memorized?"

"They're not stories, Axel," Riku said quickly, looking shocked that the redhead would even consider such a thing. "The serpentine are real!"

"Don't tell me you actually believe in that kind of stuff." Axel groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If giant snakes that that used to rule the world and walked around on two legs like people existed, we'd know about it."

"That's because they were sealed away years ago in separate tombs so they couldn't unite to get their revenge on the people who put them there," said Roxas.

Sora nodded. "Plus, the generals had tails. Not feet."

"The story sounds more and more ridiculous the more you add to it," Axel complained. "Come on, let's just deal with this problem." He held up a flailing, shouting Vanitas, demanding not to be ignored.

"What do we do?" asked Sora. "Spank him?"

"I've got a better idea," said Roxas with a grin. He took the struggling boy from Axel and hoisted him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, ignoring how much Vanitas hit and kicked him. He carried the boy like that until they had reached one of the town's many candy shops, and hung him by the cape from a flower-shaped lamp-post across the street.

"Wha- What are you doing?!" Vanitas yelled down at the ninja- sans Riku, who had gone into the store with some cash to get the candy Sora had talked about. "You've just made me your nemesis! You'll pay for this, I'm telling you!"

"Crime doesn't pay, muchacho," Roxas said, putting his hands on his hips. "Next time, pay for your candy."

Sora grinned as Riku came out of the store, carrying an assortment of sweets. He immediately grabbed the one that appealed to him the most. "Mmm~ Cotton candy~." Just to rub it in the bratty kid's face, he pulled off a large strand of the fluffy treat and stuffed it in his mouth.

Vanitas just glared at the four and screamed his head off.

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

Well, this was harder to write than I had expected. Part of it was that I had planned on using the whole episode in this chapter, but this seemed like the perfect place to end it.

I really do like little Vanitas. He's such a brat, and it's adorable and I love it! He's not quite evil, but thinks that comic-book villains are cool, so he wants to be like them too. The only problem I had was figuring out how he'd get the idea to be evil in the first place. In Ninjago, it was a pun- Lloyd Garmadon, the son of Lord Garmadon. Here… I had to come up with some way for him to know. I'll explain how he knows in a chapter or two.

As for Wonderville, that's obviously supposed to be Wonderland condensed into one town. It'll probably make a few more appearances in the future, so keep an eye out for it.

Please, do review and let me know what you think. I really want to know how you all feel about the story.


	14. 13: Rise of the Snakes

**Heart of a Ninja**

**Green Ninja Arc**

An ancient evil has been awoken, and Vanitas, the Dark Lord's son, is at the center of it all. The four ninja all have to be ready for whatever lies ahead, but it won't be easy, especially with an oddly colored falcon holding the key to Riku's past, a mysterious knight getting in their way, issues with Sora and Roxas' families, and a prophecy saying that one of them is destined to defeat the Dark Lord.

**Chapter 13: Rise of the Snakes**

~o~o~

"_Trussst in meeee~" –Kaa, The Jungle Book_

~o~o~

Once the boys had had their fill of candy and laughs at Vanitas' expense, they bid the town of Wonderville farewell and walked outside of its borders to where they had left their dragons.

"Don't you think we should have brought Vanitas back to his boarding school?" Riku asked, adjusting Marshmallow's saddle.

"Nah, he'll be fine," said Roxas, shrugging. "If the kid doesn't wanna go to school, let him try living on his own for a bit. I can understand that."

"So long as he doesn't keep causing trouble," Sora put in.

Axel shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, kids are already trouble, but this one is Terra's son. Of course he'll be more trouble than most."

"Or maybe he'll learn," Roxas insisted. "You'll see."

Sora and Axel looked at each other, not quite believing it would happen, before climbing onto their respective dragons. As he jumped onto Mjolnir's back, Sora's leg hit one of the bags attached to his saddle, knocking it to the ground. "It's not mine," he said quickly, noticing Roxas frowning at him.

"No," said Riku, coming over to examine the bag. "This is Master Ventus' bag."

"Didn't he ask to borrow Mjolnir a while back?" asked Roxas as he bent over to pick the bag up.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. He said he wanted to talk to an old friend about something."

Axel slipped off of Mushu and walked over to join the others, picking up a scroll that had slipped out of the bag as it fell. "Do you think this has anything to do with what he wanted to talk to them about?"

"How would I know? It's written in chicken scratch." Sora crossed his arms as he looked at the scroll.

"Not 'chicken scratch,' Sora," said Riku, shaking his head. "It is written in the language of the Ancients, the earliest people in the land."

"Wait, you can read this?" Axel stared at the white ninja incredulously.

"Yes, though I cannot translate word for word, but I can give it a try." He took the scroll from Axel, examining it closer. "See, here at the end, it is signed by Yen Sid."

"_The_ Yen Sid?" Sora's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "As in, the creator of the world itself, and the most powerful being ever to walk the world? The Master's own grandfather? _That_ Yen Sid?!"

Riku nodded. "It says here that darkness will cover the land, and that the one who is master of the darkness will grow stronger. When that happens, one ninja will rise above the rest to defeat him, and become the Green Ninja. At the bottom of the scroll is drawn the symbol for light, with the symbols for fire, ice, lightning, and earth surrounding it."

"As in, the same elements as us!" Axel's eyes widened. "Guys, are you all thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You mean, how awesome I'd look in green?" Sora asked, grinning widely.

"Are you kidding?!" Axel snorted. "The Green Ninja's gonna be me! Got it memorized? After all, the color does match my eyes."

"Wow," Sora laughed at that. "You sound like a girl!"

"Technically, the color would suit me the best," said Riku, also getting in on the conversation. "And I was the one to translate the scroll, so it makes sense that it would be me."

"Guys!"

The boys all turned to look at Roxas, who stormed over and snatched the scroll out of Riku's hands. "Look at what this silly prophecy is doing to us? We're supposed to be like brothers, not arguing over who looks best in whatever color. Besides, we've only just seen it now." He rolled the scroll back up as he spoke, putting it back in Ventus' bag which he then slung over his saddle. "Master Ventus probably didn't want us to see this, and for good reason."

"Come on, Roxas," said Axel. "Don't tell me you aren't at least a little curious."

Roxas hesitated, before finally nodding. "Well… Yeah. But let's not argue about this until we get back home." He grinned, swinging himself up into the saddle. "Come on, I'll race you guys!"

"Hah! You're on!" Sora grinned, getting back into his own dragon's saddle. Axel and Riku followed suit, and the boys took off into the air on their dragons. However, the whole way back home, all of the boys were thinking the same thing.

_Could I be the Green Ninja?_

~o~

"Stupid ninja!"

Vanitas kicked a rock as he trekked through a field in the opposite direction from Wonderville. His cape was torn from having been used to hang him from a giant flower, and his pride had taken a beating after those four ninja had humiliated him in front of the entire village. And all he had asked for was their candy! For the son of a dark lord, he felt that was a pretty reasonable request, but of course, something had to get in his way.

It was just how it had been back at his old boarding school. Right from the first day his mom had dropped him off, leaving him behind, all the kids who had been there longer got their kicks out of pranking him and making fun of him. The only thing that would cheer him up was when his Uncle Ventus would send him the letters Aqua had written to him, but as days had turned into weeks, and months had turned into years, he came to realize that none of the letters were directed at him- they were all addressed to Ventus. Then the letters stopped coming altogether.

The last letter he received didn't come from Ventus. It came directly from his mom. It was an extremely vague letter, and he had no idea what to make of it. The only thing that was clear was the one thing his mother had to say to him- his father was now the Dark Lord. That was it. There wasn't so much as an "I love you" or anything.

It was then that he had decided he wasn't going to stay at his stupid boarding school anymore. If his father was some kind of dark lord, he deserved more respect. He wondered if his father even knew about him, and if he would give him more attention than his mom ever did. He'd definitely have to make his father proud!

Unfortunately for him, his first attempt had ended in failure and humiliation, and with a new nemesis. He'd have to come up with a better plan for the future. _Maybe if I raided a comic book store, I could get some ideas! _

He kicked another rock as hard as he could, watching it sail through the air. He couldn't see where it landed, but he did hear it strike metal. _That's weird. _He frowned, running in the direction the rock had flown until he came across a metal rod with the head of a snake sticking out of the ground. Close by, also on the ground, was a wide expanse of carved stone. Vanitas took a couple steps back to examine the carvings, and his eyes widened when he realized what it was. _It's a Serpentine!_

Part of him was telling him he should run, that there was definitely danger here, but the other part of him was curious. Why would a carving of a Serpentine be all the way out here, and why the metal rod? He walked back over to it, examining it closer and brushing away the dirt near the bottom. _Looks like some kind of switch or lever._

Now he was debating about what to do with the lever. Would it trigger some sort of trap? Or would it lead him to treasure? Then again, with the Serpentine carving right here, could it be something dangerous? And if it was, could he take it on? _Of course I can, _he told himself. _I am the son of the Dark Lord! I'm not scared of anything! _He pulled the lever.

The ground beneath his feet began to shake, making him fall to his hands and knees on top of the carving. He stared in shock as the stone began to split in half, slanting into the ground and revealing a cavern below. He struggled to cling to the rock, but its smooth surface was too difficult to grab onto. He cried out as he fell, though it was only a short way until he hit… ice?

Vanitas frowned in confusion, looking around at the frozen cavern he was now inside. _How could this place stay frozen way out here? _Some of the icy walls were more reflective than others, while others were more transparent, and others were opaque, making it difficult to judge the size of the cave.

"You're a long way from home, little boy."

He whirled around at the sound of the voice, and saw the biggest snake he'd ever laid eyes on slithering out from a tunnel in the side of the cave. The snake had bright red eyes and the hood of a cobra and scales patterned many shades of blue, white, and gold. Two fangs jutted out from the snake's upper lip, and he saw a forked tongue flicker out between them briefly, tasting the air. The snake's torso was upright, and it had arms just like a human, though these were covered in scales as well, and in its hands was a golden staff with the same snake head as the rod outside. _A Serpentine general!_

Vanitas backed up slowly as the Serpentine began to approach him, raising its head. "Look into my eyesss, boy. Give up your mind." Not liking the sound of that, Vanitas shielded his eyes, backing up even more until he hit a wall. He ducked down, curling into a ball to brace for the end to come. "Allow me to control you…. Ooh…."

When the bite of the snake's fangs didn't come, Vanitas looked up. The general almost appeared… dizzy. Vanitas looked at the wall behind him, and realized what had happened. This particular sheet of ice was reflective. The general must have seen his reflection and hypnotized himself! Grinning, the Dark Lord's son turned around to face the Serpentine. "No. _I_ control _you_ now!"

The snake bowed low to him. "What would you have usss do, Massster?"

"Us?" Vanitas stared at him in confusion until he heard noise from all around him. He turned around to see many, many more Serpentine emerging from other tunnels and caves, all different sizes (though all smaller than the general) and colored either blue or brown with gold and white or black patterns. A grin spread across Vanitas' face. _My own army of snakes!_

~o~o~

**Author's Note:**

Wow. Short chapter. You know, I could make it longer, but I think its fine like this. Besides, I wanted to finish this chapter this week and I was really struggling early on. I think what got me pumped enough to write were two trailers I saw earlier in the week.

The first one is for the fifth- and final- season of Ninjago. It comes out on the 29th of this month, so I look forward to watching it then. There's also a character I can already tell would suit Vanitas better than Lloyd does, but I can work around it.

As for the second trailer… KINGDOM HEARTS III!

That trailer is just… Wow! I do not have the words to explain my feelings! I tried to post a reaction video on youtube, but the quality wound up being really poor, and most of the audio wound up being "Oh my gosh" over and over again. Eraqus looks so adorable, too! He could be my kid brother or something! And is it just me, or does Xehanort look even more like Riku than ever before?! I thought his hair was supposed to be symmetrical, but now his bangs look just like Riku's! And the voices- My god, they already have English voices! And the lip movements synch up! Do you have any idea what that might mean?! WE MIGHT GET A WORLDWIDE RELEASE!

We also have Tangled confirmed as a world, so I can probably use characters from that movie in the story. And although it was never outright stated, we pretty much have Olympus Coliseum in the game- again. This time, however, it looks very different. It looks like we'll see even more of the world than ever before, and judging by the new Keyblade, we might have something to do with Zeus. You know that scene in the movie where the titans try to kill him? I think that's what will be focused on this time around.

Also, did anyone notice that the calendar behind Eraqus looks like it could be for December 2016? As in, almost ten years after KHII was released, Christmas season? I'm VERY confident that we might be getting the game around then!

What are your theories, though? Please, let me know in your review. What are you looking forward to, what are you dreading, anything at all, please tell me.


	15. Author's Note: Delay

**Author's Note:**

I'm sorry there won't be a chapter this week. I have a lot on my plate, lately, and I can't even focus on writing. I've just been re-hired for my old job and I have to go through the tests and paperwork for that, and then I have vacation the week before I begin. I'm also taking care of a neighbor's cats while they're gone.

Earlier this week, I also had to go to the ER because of heartburn, and I'm still in pain from it. I've gotta eat healthier from now on, and I might have to take medication for it for the rest of my life…

I may also be very distracted in the future because of the new season of Ninjago coming out, and the new Netflix series Dragons: Race to the Edge.

Anyway, I hope you don't mind having to wait for the next chapter. I hope you all stay tuned!


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